Mushroom growing from a live frog: 'Never seen before'

The frog from which the mushroom grows was found by Lohit YT, a river and wetland specialist at WWF India. It was while searching for amphibians and reptiles in the Western Ghats mountain range in India.

Confusion

Lohit found dozens of golden-backed frogs in a pond along the road. A fungus stuck in the side of a frog. Lohit took pictures of the frog and posted them online.

Since fungi and fungi play a role in the process of decomposing organic matter in nature, the fact that they grow from a live, apparently healthy frog has scientists amazed. “I was very surprised when I saw that,” says Matthew Smith, a fungal biologist at the University of Florida. The New York Times.

“unknown phenomenon”

Mycologists and mycologists suspect it is a mycelium-forming fungus, a helmet mushroom. This type of fungus usually grows primarily on dead, rotting plant material, such as rotting wood.

“It is a previously unknown phenomenon,” is how the World Wildlife Fund describes Lohit's discovery.

According to naturalists, it is not clear why the fungus grows from a frog. There are many known cases of mushrooms growing in places where they do not grow naturally. But this is new to living animal tissue. “I've never heard of a fungus on living animal tissue,” Smith says.

Unanswered questions

The frog from which the fungus grows has not been captured, making it more difficult to find an explanation for this phenomenon. It is not clear whether the fungus is harmful to the frog. However, according to the discoverer, he appeared healthy.