WATER MOLD

also spelled water mould any of about 150 species of fungi belonging to the order Saprolegniales within the class Oomycetes. Many of them live in fresh or brackish water or wet soils. Most species are saprobic (i.e., they live on dead or decaying organic matter), although some cause diseases in certain fishes, higher plants, algae, protozoans, and marine invertebrates. The mycelium (filaments composing the body of the fungus) is conspicuous around bits of decaying organic matter. Reproduction is by motile, asexual spores (zoospores), which may be of two types: pear-shaped with two apical whiplike structures (flagella) or kidney-shaped with two flagella on the concave side. Zoospores are used to classify different species of water molds. In sexual reproduction, fusion of gametes (sex cells) from differentiated sex organs takes place in an oogonium.