Stinkhorns, radiating arms atop a stem

An aged Aseroe sp

Thanks for that Heino. Lesson, to look at the whole organism!! It would be interesting to do some DNA work on these to see if there is more going on here............

I reckon it's Clathrus. Most of the spore slime has gone but you can still see some remnants well out along the arms. That is a feature of Clathrus, whereas in Aseroe the spore slime is confined to the central area. CNM has had some other sightings of Clathrus with the ends of the arms split. I assume that, as with any organism, things can sometimes go awry during development and that the signals controlling arm development are more susceptible to disruption than those controlling the place of spore formation.

Thanks for the help in the identification. It can be confusing as some of the specimens at the same location do not have the branched "limbs" whilst others do. For some reason the organism seems to be very localised but associated underneath bushes. Our landcare group spread some mulch a few years ago at the location but same batch of mulch was also used in other areas and the organism is not apparent at any other location. To call this lifeform weird is an understatement.

@Pam more proof that these are alien beings! 😉