Fungi are made of filamentous tubes called hyphae. In many species, perforated walls, or septa, divide the hyphae into cells
containing one or two nuclei. Protoplasm flows through the opening in the septa to provide the cells with nutrients, which are
stored in the hyphal walls as glycogen. Hyphae elongate from the tip. The entire mass of hyphae is collectively called the
mycelium, primary below ground and secondary above.
The small, clublike structures produced by the plasmodial, or feeding, stage of a slime mold are called the fruiting bodies, or
sporangia. The sporangium is the reproductive structure containing the spores, which germinate, releasing the sex cells.
Ray Simons/Photo Researchers, Inc.
Sporangia of Plasmodial Slime Mold
The plasmodial slime mold is a mucouslike plant that creeps along slowly in leaf litter or over decaying logs. This primitive
organism feeds on bacteria, fungal spores, yeast cells, and decaying plant and animal matter by engulfing the food much like an
amoeba engulfs its prey. The plasmodium is primarily a feeding stage. Under the right conditions, it transforms into a
reproductive stage, producing tiny, stalked, spherical structures called sporangia, which eventually split open to release spores.
