Scanning electron micrograph of a spore tower of the slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum. Slime moulds are a curious division of plants with many of

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Scanning electron micrograph of a spore tower of the slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum. Slime moulds are a curious division of plants with many of the characteristics of animals. They consist of a slow-moving mass of amoeboid protoplasm, which engulfs particles of solid food which it encounters. It reproduces itself however by spores, shed from a spore tower, produced by a vegetative body called the plasmodium. The micrograph shows exposed spores on the underside of the spore tower. The majority of slime moulds are saprophytes, feeding on dead or decaying organic matter. Magnification: x250 (at 10x8 size).

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Size: 3252px × 3707px
Photo credit: © DAVID SCHARF/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: dictyostelium, discoideum, eumycota, fungal, fungi, fungus, mold, mould, mouldy, mycology, nature, naturemycology, sem, slime