Sunday, November 25, 2012

The strange case of the mysterious substance

In early November walking near the nature reserve of Mendilatz in the Irati forest(Aezkoa Valley, Navarre) I found this substance in the meadows surrounding the reserve. Overall I found two of them.

They had no smell, had some consistency, and were slightly sticky to the touch. They weren´t  bonded to the ground by any appendage.

I sent the photo to various experts  in nature of the area, but although there were different theories, none of them seemed to fit with what could be.

Some of them talk about an artificial substance, but in that place did not seem very plausible. Also did not have any odor that could remind some chemical.

Other said it could be some kind of excrement, having ingested some gelatinous substance, like frog eggs (not yet exist) or even mistletoe fruits, but it was too dense to be something of that nature.

Another assumption was that of a kind of gelatinous fungus uncommon. It is true that there are very similar to the photography, (Myxarium nucleatum or Exidia thuretiana)

You can see something similar in these links:

www.fungipedia.es/.../32325-myxarium-nucleatum
www.asociacionvallisoletanademicologia.com/
The following link is interesting, because once one like it was related to the fall of a meteorite!
www.aforteanosla.com.ar/afla/.../amherst.htm

But do not think that is exactly none of these species, although probably will be a fungus. Nor growing on dead matter of some branch or organic waste.
If someone could give me your opinion would be very grateful, in order to be able to know more about the surprising nature that surrounds us.
You can leave a comment on the blog or write to:
Itarinatura@itarinatura.com

1 december 2012

Few days ago, Javier, from the Ultzama mycologic park, told me maybe could be a fungus of tremellaceae family , but he coudn´t be sure with a photo.

1 comment:

  1. Hi, discovered your excellent blog today and noticed this article about this strange jelly like substance. A colleague of mine found something similar in the UK a while ago and after posting on quite a few forums the general concensus was that it was 'star jelly'. This looks really similar to me. Legend tells that it's left by falling metorites. You can read a bit about it on these two pages :
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_jelly
    http://prasetio30.hubpages.com/hub/Star-Jelly-Mysterious-Phenomenon-Do-You-Believe-it
    I hope that helps. Not seen it myself but looks like strange stuff.
    Phil

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