salmon-eggs

Salmon-eggs is a common, true slime mold. It occurs worldwide on all continents except Antarctica. It occurs in the United States and southern Canada east of the Great Plains and on the West Coast, with just a few scattered records in between.

Salmon eggs grow on dead wood. The fruiting bodies (sporangia) appear grouped, sometimes closely, sometimes scattered. Each sporangium consists of a globe-shaped, 1⁄32″ (0.6 to 0.8 mm) in diameter head (sporotheca) containing the spores atop a cylindrical, 1⁄256″ to 1⁄32″ (0.1 to 1.0 mm) long stalk (stipe). When it first appears, the immature sporotheca is bright orange, pink, or red. At maturity it is shiny, yellowish olive, olive brown, or brown. It is filled with yellowish-brown spores and a network of elastic threads (capillitium) that aid in spore dispersal. The stipe is hollow, dark brown at the base, becoming lighter olive brown above. As the sporangium dries, the peridium (the thin outer layer of the sporotheca) ruptures, releasing the spores.

Dead wood

Sources

24, 26, 29, 30, 77.

Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (accessed through the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Portal, bellatlas.umn.edu, 7/21/2025).

Common and widespread

Higher ranking
There is ongoing disagreement about the classification of slime molds above the rank of genus. The ranking above follows Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), Catalogue of Life (COL), MycoBank, MycoPortal, and iNaturalist. It is not in agreement with Index Fungorum or ITIS, neither of which agree with GBIF or with each other. iNaturalist lists the Superorder and the Subclass. GBIF, COL, MycoBank, and MycoPortal do not.

Greg Watson
6/22/2025

Location: Magelssen Bluff Park