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What Is The Secret Behind The Glow of Mushrooms Found in Meghalaya?

The secret of the mushroom shine found in the forests of Meghalaya, and the journey to find it is described.

By Russel JimPublished 5 years ago 2 min read
mushroom

Every day on our earth, our scientists keep on finding new discoveries and new things. There are so many amazing things on earth that cannot be understood with any strong evidence as to why this thing is in this way, a similar discovery was found in the forests of Meghalaya. What is this and how was it discovered.

glowing mushroom

Running on fungal biodiversity in the forest of Meghalaya, a strange mushroom appeared during the project, its specialty was that it glowed at night. Scientists gave it the name Roridomyces Phyllostachys. If seen in the daytime, this mushroom looks like an ordinary mushroom, but as soon as it gets dark, it emits blue and green light which can be easily identified even from a distance. The locals around that forest call it the Electric Mushroom

The discovery of the mushroom is co-authored by an NGO in Assam and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. They were also working on fungal biodiversity in 4 states of North East Assam, Sikkim, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, during this time they heard about the electric mushroom from the mouths of the local people and soon after getting this information, the Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya and The search for it started in the forests of the Khasi Hills.

A team of scientists were constantly taking information about different varieties of mushrooms from the local people there. Photographer Stephen Axford, who was involved in the research, said in a report by The Indian Express that when we were constantly walking around asking people, people answered yes when asked about the glowing mushrooms. Let me tell you that Stephen Axford has been researching mushrooms for the last 15 years.

A total of 96 mushrooms with bioluminescent means to remove the light from the body have been seen all over the world so far and this variety of Meghalaya is 97 varieties. They are usually found in marine environments, but many varieties are also found on land. The color of the light emanating from it depends on what kind of chemical tendency it is inside the mushroom or fungus. These mushrooms are around bamboo roots in bamboo forests in Meghalaya.

Samantha Karunarathna, a scientist involved in this research, told that this mushroom is found to have a special type of enzyme luciferase which is responsible for the light emanating from it. In the case of the Meghalaya mushroom, it works in such a way that the enzyme luriferous found in it reacts in the presence of oxygen. During this chemical reaction, different colors are released, which begin to look like dark blue light in the dark.

According to the scientist Rajesh Kumar of Rain Forest Research Institute, Jorhat, there can be many reasons for the light emanating from this shining mushroom, such as one reason that the bioluminescent tendency of the mushroom attracts insects which are insects which Their particles propagate from here to there. The mushroom emits light at night so that insects are attracted or it may be due to the defense system of insect-eating insects.

Although the reason for its glow at night is not known, some things have become scientifically certain such as that these mushrooms require a sufficient amount of moisture to thrive in the forest, as well as from 21 ° C. Temperatures up to 27 ° C are favorable for them. In Goa, Kerala, and Meghalaya, the rains thrive in temperature according to their respective temperatures and the locals here are very well acquainted with them.

Nature

About the Creator

Russel Jim

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