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Underwater mushroom discovery

That is very cool. I wonder if it's always been around and we just haven't seen it, or if it's a recent adaptation.
 
Perhaps it's late and I need to go to bed because I'm confounding nutrient transport systems in plants and fungi, but wouldn't being underwater suffocate the mushroom?
 
neutrino_cannon said:
Perhaps it's late and I need to go to bed because I'm confounding nutrient transport systems in plants and fungi, but wouldn't being underwater suffocate the mushroom?
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Water contains enough oxygen for fish to survive which are far more active than fungi, a fast flowing stream would be well aerated.
 
Now, who's brave enough to find out what it tastes like? :p
 
steenkh said:
I suspect some kind of fraud here.
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It's on the website of Southern Oregon University, here.

SOU said:
Discovered in 2005 by Robert Coffan, adjunct professor in the Environmental Studies Department, collaborative efforts of his colleagues in the Biology Department, Darlene Southworth and Jonathan Frank, verified its uniqueness. The research team has submitted a manuscript to a scientific journal called "Mycologia."
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Well, I know very little about fungi, so I guess it is possible. It just looks too much like a land mushroom put into an aquarium. Water plants do not look like land plants, and they have adaptations to handle the flow of water around them. This mushroom stands as tall and rigid as a land mushroom.

As it has been noted, aquatic mushrooms need a way to spread their spores upstream, or they will only spread downstream from the point where they grow. But then, on the other hand, I do not know how aquatic plants handle this - except for those that stick up above the water to spread the seeds, which this mushroom does not seem to do.
 
steenkh said:
I suspect some kind of fraud here.
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Now you went and made me take a second look at it. Spoilsport.

The only thing in the picture to suggest it's underwater are the small bubbles, which could be dewdrops. And it's odd that it would be standing straight up in moving water.

However, the Southern Oregon U website has an announcement for a seminar--for this very afternoon--to learn about the discovery.
http://studentinfo.sou.edu/soucalendar/CalendarResults.asp?EventID=6750&Date=1/25/2008

If it's a hoax, the environmental studies faculty itself must be in on it, or at least is being duped by some mischief maker. For that reason, I'm still leaning towards its being genuine.

ETA: I see Dr. A beat me to it.
 
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I thought fraud initially too but then I read the University website and they go into a little detail about how the gills are adapted to distribute spores underwater. Many aquatic plants have a similar form to land based plants so perhaps it's not too surprising that the fruiting body looks like that of a field mushroom/toadstool.
 
TShaitanaku said:
nah, its probably a better trout and lemongrass, or salmon and dill, addition.
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In the past we could only have found out if it was safe by having somebody eat it and seeing if their liver failed. But I think today we could actually screen for known mushroom poisons pretty easily. But a novel organism might have evolved some UNKNOWN poisons to help it adapt to its environment.

I won't be the first person to saute some of these.
 
BenBurch said:
In the past we could only have found out if it was safe by having somebody eat it and seeing if their liver failed. But I think today we could actually screen for known mushroom poisons pretty easily. But a novel organism might have evolved some UNKNOWN poisons to help it adapt to its environment.

I won't be the first person to saute some of these.
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Oh, I might volunteer to do the cooking, but I'm not too sure about the tasting!
:D
 
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