Glowing Shrooms

Seven new “glow in the dark” species of mushrooms were discovered around the globe this October. Four of the species are completely new to the shroom family while the other three have adapted this new trend towards luminescence, making a total of 71 known species to emit light. "If daylight was not so bright you could see them during the day, but the greenish-yellow light does not stand out against daylight so we cannot visualize them," lead researcher Dennis Desjardin of San Francisco State University told LiveScience.com.

The majority of the glowing species comes from the Mycena family, which are known to produce on decaying organic matter. Scientists don’t have an answer for why fungi is glowing.  Desjardin believes the light is used as a lure for nocturnal animals to help spread the spores, while another theory claims that the glow attracts the predators of the insects that like to feed off the fungi. 

What scientists can agree on is that these new mushrooms are very psychedelic to the eye, but it is not recommended that you eat them--for any reason.

Image Courtesy of pinktentacle.com