The Carnivorous Fungi That Devour Nematodes

whoever made this thumbnail deserves a raise

Just a nit to pick: the nematodes that parasitize humans and other mammals aren’t the targets of these fungi. They go after softer, smaller soil nematodes, most of which are harmless unless you’re a microbe. They do attack some nematodes that are nasty to plants, though. Some nematodes will absolutely devastate crops and gardens. These fungi help deal with that problem. There are also some nematodes that parasitize pest insects, like the ones that eat Japanese beetle grubs (or any beetle grubs, really). Basically, while they all look pretty similar, nematodes are very diverse, much like mammals and other phyla.

You know stuff is weird when the mushroom has a gun

Yes please more fungi content I LIVE for fungi content

Imagine being lured in by a promise of sex and food, but it ends up being a facehugger straight out of Alien

From what I've learned from SciShow and others is that without fungi, we wouldn't be here.

Upon reaching out to the nematode community for their opinion on the matter, they simply replied with "don't open that can of worms".

Tiny pedantic correction, as you mentioned Pythium as a fungus: it's actually an oomycete, more closely related to red algae than fungi, and an incredible example of convergent evolution

The presenter is really cute while she gleefully recounts all the ways that fungi kill nematodes.

It would be fascinating to see a video discussing the research methods used to discover the tiny, fast mechanisms described in this video.

Clicked because of awesome thumbnail Sure I love science, but dude, medieval fungi are just absolutely awesome

I can't help but imagine a mushroom with Ving Rhames' voice staring down an injured nematode saying that he's gonna bring some other mushrooms, a pair of pliers, and a blowtorch...

It started sounding like a DND character sheet for Mushrooms at 7:55 .

One of my fave takes from taking biology in school was when my prof mentioned that if all matter was somehow magically removed from the land surface of the Earth, excepting nemotodes, that one might observe a ghostly outline of almost everything previously extant, but in nematodes.

"Wine cap mushrooms seem to have an edge over shaggy mane mushrooms when it comes to weapon proficiency." Not really a statement i expected to hear when i first woke up today

I didn't realize that fungi were capable of self locomotion to that extent.

A lot of species of these little buggers are actually beneficial for Mankind. Some of them a vital in their local soil biome. Some species increase soil fertility. Some species predate pests – sometimes other species of nematodes. If noticed in the soil, it's most likely normal and they are not to be harmed – even though they are of the same kind as intestinal worms.

Another mushroom that uses the paralytic toxin method is the oyster mushroom, Pleurotus ostreatus, which as you probably know is also edible like the shaggy mane or wine cap.

Ok, with the mention of sticky traps, medevil weapons, and the thumbnail, this whole episode feels like a huge Demoman reference

The world feels so much more interesting on a micro scale