| This time lapse movie of the slime mold Physarum polycephalum represents 10 days of growth on an agar plate sprinkled with oatmeal flakes. Images were taken at 15 minute intervals.
This shows only the plasmodial stage of the organism as it wanders the plate searching for food. It is multinucleate with no compartmentalization, so it is in fact one giant cell of cytoplasm. Upon stress of heat, desiccation, light or other factors, it then will produce cytoplasmic nodules, each of which culminates to form a fruiting body suspended by a small stalk. Spores are produced at the end of the stalk.
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