Underwater Mushroom Discovered

Photo by Robert Coffan – The Psathyrella aquatica mushroom, pictured above, was recently discovered by scientists in the Rogue Valley, Oregon.

The Southern Oregon University environmental studies and biology faculty will share their discovery of a new species of mushroom that grows underwater – the first of its kind – in a presentation tomorrow in Ashland, Oregon. The new species is called Psathyrella aquatica.

The multimedia presentation will be given by Robert Coffan, adjunct professor of environmental studies; Jonathan Frank, biology research technician; and Darlene Southworth, professor emerita, biology.

The event begins at 2:30 p.m. with refreshments, and the presentation begins at 3 p.m. in SOU’s room 118 in the science building.

Discovered in 2005 by Coffan, collaborative efforts of his colleagues in the Biology department – Southworth and Frank – verified its uniqueness. The research team has submitted a manuscript to a scientific journal called Mycologia.

“Discovering new habitat for complex organisms such as mushrooms is something you might expect in the Amazon, or along the deep oceanic trenches. But here they are, waiting for us in the Rogue River in Southern Oregon,” Coffan said.

“It’s pretty unbelievable to see a mushroom standing straight up under flowing water,” Southworth added.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

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