Bob the Blob (Physarum polycephalum)

I'm Bob... the Blob!

Famous from film and television 😉 (The Blob, 1958). In 2019, I was also given my own section at the Paris Zoo to showcase my nature and behavior.

I am a myxo, unfortunately also called a slime mold. I am neither animal nor plant. And also not a fungus, no bacterium and no virus. I am the largest cell on Earth! Like something from another world, yet one of the first to be here. I have existed almost unchanged for over 500 million years.

I am the perfect "pet". Frugal and capable of learning. But if you don't give me what I want, I'll run away and find it myself.

You can find a detailed description of me in this blog post...

My preferences:

• I am born as an amoeboid single cell. In my later development, I team up with my siblings and we join together. In doing so, we form a single cell, with a single membrane, which encloses our common cell nuclei.
• Under favorable conditions, I am practically immortal.
• The largest representative of our species grew to 5.5m².
• I can double my size daily under favorable conditions.
• I can perceive my food and move actively towards it at a speed of up to 4cm per hour.
• I am able to reach my food in the shortest way, cross obstacles and even find the shortest route in a labyrinth.
• I feed on fungi, bacteria and other single-celled organisms, as well as plant and animal remains.
• I am capable of learning and adapt to my environment by memorizing regularly recurring changes, such as drought, and reacting even if they do not occur, by contracting.
• I am able to exchange information with conspecifics by connecting with them. We open our cell membrane and become one. For an information exchange, we must be connected for at least three hours.
• My body is permeated by veins. These are filled with protoplasm and contract regularly, similar to the human heartbeat. This enables my movement. (Visible on video recordings at approximately 5 times the speed)
• I am single-celled organism of the year 2021
• My conspecifics can be divided into at least 720 sexes.
• If my environment becomes dry, I survive as a sclerotium in a dry state for years.

Housing conditions:

• Non-toxic and harmless, perfect for children to experiment and observe. (Don't be shy all other interested parties... I'm 40 😉)
• A clean environment and pure handling are beneficial to avoid transmitting germs.
• Oatmeal or flour can be used as food (I do well with whole rye flour). If you are a little more confident, you can also experiment.
• The advantage of the special Kimmig agar is a rapid growth of the myxo. The danger here lies in the equally rapid growth of any fungi that may be introduced. Should a culture be overgrown by foreign organisms, it is necessary to move it to a new vessel with clean medium.
• Sclerotia can be stored dark and dry for months and revived when needed. To do this, it is placed in a suitable vessel and moistened as described below.
• Any vessel that can retain moisture but guarantee oxygen supply is suitable.
• Agar agar, moist filter paper or other cellulose materials can be used as growth media.
• Physarum polycephalum requires a moist and dark environment. Also temperatures around 23°C. 10°C absolute minimum and 38°C absolute maximum.

Available as a culture starter on filter paper in a 9cm Petri dish. Petri dishes and filter paper for renewing the culture are also available in the shop.

Shipping time: 5-8 working days