What is Slime Mold?
Slime mold is a broad categorization of fungi-like, slimy, amoeboid protists (unicellular eukaryotes, i.e., non-bacterial unicellular organisms) that feed on wood, flowers, fruits, mulch, any other type of dead plant material, bacteria, yeast, and fungal spores. Individual slime mold organisms are usually microscopic, but some species form coenocyte colonies that are usually a few centimeters across. A coenocyte is a large cell with many nuclei which occurs when nuclear division is not accompanied by cellular division. In some instances, these coenocytes can grow in size up to 30 square meters, making them the largest individual cells in the animal world, much larger than the ostrich egg, which is often mistakenly cited as the largest cell. Slime molds come in a variety of shapes, including irregular, spherical, bulbous, cylindrical, and colors, including bright pink, orange, yellow, white, gray, and brown. In some ways, their colonial behavior is reminiscent of the behavior of multice
