A smorgasbord for the slugs

Brittlegill (Russula sp)

Svartskog, Norway

Although I try to find pristine and unscathed mushroom specimens, I like those with a clean cut like this one, as it makes you wonder what kind of creature could make such a clean cut.

It is like a hidden creature has had a big bite and vanished into thin air. The truth is that the culprit is a creature perhaps as watery as the mushroom itself – a slug.

And it definitely does not vanish into thin air, but hide in the dark of the dirt from which this mushroom has emerged.

Last autumn was the best mushroom year in a very long time, and I like to believe that the sheer number of mushrooms overwhelmed the slug populations, so that several mushrooms were left intact or partly so until their cycle of reproduction was complete. In most season the number of fungi are rather few and many are inundated and eaten by slugs before they can grow to their full potential.

I for one have savored last mushroom autumn to the max as I might never again experience the like of it.

Image Copyright © 2017 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 08 September 2017 15:22
Altitude: 26 meters

#fungi #mushrooms #autumn #svartskog #norway