The world of predators is so diverse that sometimes you can meet another "devourer" where you don't expect it at all. For example, in the kingdom of mushrooms. Not everyone knows what mushrooms are called predatory, how they hunt, how they are useful or dangerous to humans.
When it comes to mushrooms, it's pretty hard for us to imagine that some of them are very carnivorous. How can this be? After all, they “sit” in place and they don’t even have a mouth? Even more interesting is that people have learned to use killer mushrooms for their own good. How a person uses predatory mushrooms and what they are is the topic of this article.
Who are they, where do they grow up?
Already from the name itself it becomes clear which mushrooms are called predatory. Of course, those that catch and kill their victims are microscopic living organisms.
Such mushrooms prefer to settle among the roots of plants or in mosses, but are quite often found in water bodies, especially stagnant ones. Some of them live on the bodies of insects, while eating them from the inside. Such hunting mushrooms can shoot spores at a distance of up to 1 meter. Once on the body of the victim, they grow inside and gradually eat it.
Surprisingly, mushrooms are practically the only living organisms on earth that instantly adapt to any climate change. We can safely say that these microscopic predators spread their nets right under the feet of a person. And these nets are never empty.
History of Appearance
Mushrooms (carnivorous and not) are such ancient creatures that it's hard to imagine. It is rather problematic to establish exactly when they appeared on Earth, because scientists practically do not come across fossil remains. Most often, they can be found only in small pieces of amber. This is how an ancient fossil mushroom was discovered in France, feeding on worms up to 5 mm long.
Scientists believe that even this prehistoric mushroom is still not the progenitor of modern ones. In the process of evolution, their “killer” functions have been reborn so many times that they cannot be counted. Therefore, modern mushroom hunters are no longer relatives of prehistoric predators.
Classification of mushrooms by type of traps
Since some mushrooms are predatory creations of nature, they, accordingly, have some kind of trapping apparatus.
More precisely, there are several types:
- sticky heads, spherical shape, located on the mycelium (characteristic of Monacrosporium ellipsosporum, A. entomophaga);
- stickybranching of hyphae: Arthrobotrys perpasta, Monacrosporium cionopagum;
- adhesive net-traps, consisting of a large number of rings, which are obtained by branching hyphae: such a device for hunting has, for example, Artrobotris low-spore;
- mechanical trapping devices - prey is squeezed by them and dies: in this way Dactylaria snow-white hunts its victims.
Of course, this is a fairly brief information about which mushrooms are predatory and how they hunt. In fact, there are many more varieties of these microscopic hunters.
How do killer mushrooms hunt?
So, predatory mushrooms: how do they hunt and who do they eat? Mushrooms place their sticky traps in the thickness of the soil and wait for small worms - nematodes. A large number of such rings create entire networks located around the mycelium. As soon as the worm touches the edge, it immediately sticks. The ring begins to shrink around the body of its victim, it is almost impossible to escape. Everything happens very quickly, in fractions of seconds.
The hyphae penetrate into the body of the caught worm and begin to grow. Even if by some miracle the nematode manages to escape, this will not save her. The hyphae in her body grow so fast that in a day only a shell will remain from the worm. Together with the dying worm, the mycelium will “move” to a new place and spread its nets again.
Unknown oyster mushrooms
Few people know, but popular oyster mushrooms are also predatory mushrooms. They do not miss the opportunity to feast on a gaping worm. Like other hunters, their mycelium spreads its adnexal hyphae, which produce a rather poisonous toxin.
This poison paralyzes the victim and the hyphae instantly digs into it. After that, the oyster mushroom calmly digests its prey. Oyster mushroom toxins do not only affect nematodes. In the same way, they even eat enchitraids - rather large relatives of the earthworm. This is facilitated by the toxin ostearin produced by fungi. The shell mites, who happened to be nearby, will also not be greeted.
So these mushrooms are dangerous to eat? No. Scientists say that there is no poisonous toxin in the fruiting body of the fungus. The mechanism programmed by nature is needed by oyster mushrooms only to protect against pests - tardigrades, ticks and springtails.
Killer mushrooms are friends forever, but not always
Now let's talk about how man uses carnivorous mushrooms. Can they be useful in economic activity or are they dangerous?
The fungus-hunter, destroying nematodes and other pests like it, is certainly a friend of man. Severe soil infestation with nematodes is a great danger to crops. But since mushrooms are predatory, they constantly need food, whichbecome pests. So hunter mushrooms have long been an excellent alternative to very toxic drugs with anthelmintic effects, the use of which leads not only to environmental pollution, but also to increased resistance to poisons and mutations of the parasites themselves.
But predatory mushrooms are not always human friends. Since the X-XII century, mankind has known a disease called in Western Europe "the fire of St. Anthony." In Russia, this illness was called "evil writhing", which fully conveys the patient's condition. Symptoms of this disease are vomiting, loss of appetite, terrible pain in the intestines and stomach, weakness. In the most severe cases, there was a curvature and necrosis of the limbs, the meat was separated from the bones.
For a long time no one knew what caused such misfortune. Only after a long time it was found that the disease is caused by ergot - a predatory fungus that lives in ears of rye and forms black horns there. They contain a poisonous substance - ergotine. Therefore, today the disease is called ergotism. Bread made from such flour should not be consumed, as the poison retains its properties even at high temperatures.
Conclusion
Now you know a little more. In particular, about which mushrooms are called predatory, how they hunt and how they can be useful or dangerous to humans. In addition to being just very interesting, it is quite possible that such knowledge will be useful to you in the future.
