October 22, 2025
Wild Wednesday: Dog Sick Slime Mould
Wildlife Wednesday: Dog Sick Slime Mould (Mucilago crustacea), Ew!
I think we can all agree that this is one unappetizing name. If you can get past the name however, you will soon see that this is one crazy organism!
Slime moulds are not plants, fungi, or animals; they belong to an entirely different kingdom of life called Protista! Protists are often (but not always) made up of a single cell, are eukaryotic (if you remember your higher biology), and include a massive range organisms. They encompass everything from slime moulds, to amoebas, to some algae.
Slime moulds themselves spend some of their life as microscopic organisms. What you see here is the fruiting body (sort of like a mushroom), getting ready to release its spores.
Slime moulds are a pretty wild group of organisms. Despite having no brain, they have proved to be able to learn, solve complex problems (such as mazes) and have even been used to map out the best routes for our urban transport systems, due to their amazing path finding!
Dog sick slime mould isn’t uncommon in the UK, but appears overnight and disappears within one day, so it was cool that we spotted it on one of our litter picks!
Want to find some slime moulds of your own? One way is to turn over wet logs and look for mushroom-like structures or slimy yellow mass! Who knows what you might find!
Photo credit: Frances Coombey
ID: Kendall Knight.
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