Aquatic Fungi

Abstract

A number of different groups of fungi are found in water, including many Mastigomycotina (zoosporic fungi), some Zygomycotina, Ascomycotina, Deuteromycotina, yeasts and a few Basidiomycotina. Some may inhabit water for the whole of their lives, others may be amphibious, with one stage of their life cycle spent in, adapted to and dispersed under water, and another stage dispersed in air. Yet others may have a transient aquatic existence, possibly brought on a substratum by wind or swept by floods into water. The spores of many terrestrial fungi are carried into water by rain, and so may be isolated by conventional mycological techniques. It is therefore necessary to define carefully the term aquatic fungus. Park (1972b) has introduced a number of useful terms in distinguishing between the activities of heterotrophic microorganisms in fresh water.