Mystery biological object (look, California)

[RobertFisher]

I saw these on my gravel road. Not sure what it is. Not even sure if it's plant or animal. At first I thought it is some animal poop which I often get, but upon close inspection it does not look like poop.


Anyone can tell?

[Zoisite]

Brown jelly fungus. Sometimes also referred to as Witches Butter. We see a lot of that stuff on the west coast, it's very common in the rainforests and often found near or on footpaths. I know it looks revolting but some jelly funguses are actually edible.

See pictures of many various types of jelly funguses here: https://www.google.ca/search?q=brown...h=583&biw=1120


If you want to ID the specific jelly fungus you have there you might be able to locate it here, it's a website and gallery listing the fungi of California: http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/index.html
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[RobertFisher]

Originally Posted by Zoisite

Brown jelly fungus. Sometimes also referred to as Witches Butter. We see a lot of that stuff on the west coast, it's very common in the rainforests and often found near or on footpaths. I know it looks revolting but some jelly funguses are actually edible.

See pictures of many various types of jelly funguses here: https://www.google.ca/search?q=brown...h=583&biw=1120


If you want to ID the specific jelly fungus you have there you might be able to locate it here, it's a website and gallery listing the fungi of California: The Fungi of California
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Haha looks revolting it does.

Thanks for the links. A wealth of information.

[Zoisite]

If you think the brown ones look like mystery biological objects (which I agree they do) take a look at what the various different kinds of white jelly fungi look like. Some of them look like weird animals or fish and other confusing things that leave you scratching your head. I think the ones with teeth or that look like hedgehogs are the most interesting.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=white...h=583&biw=1120


toothed: https://www.google.ca/search?q=white...h=583&biw=1120


You want to see something really alien and scary looking - this is called the Devil's Fingers fungus:
https://www.google.ca/search?q=devil...w=1106&bih=583

[RobertFisher]

Since I have this thread maybe we can look at other mysterious stuff I had come across in the past.

Here is a fish from San Francisco bay. In the picture it sits in a 5 gallon paint bucket. Too bad I did not have a side profile of the fish. It has a head that looks like the shape of alligator's head. Also, the head does not seem to fit the body...