The Incredible Fungus That Looks Like An Octopus

Clathrus archeri resembles a strange cross between a toadstool and an octopus. Yet this is not the result of some subterranean gene-splicing enterprise to bring the world a spore-bearing cellaphod. This is exactly how nature intended the Octopus Stinkhorn. The shape and form you see here is an integral but short-lived part of its life-cycle.

Although it has been introduced to North America, Asia and Europe, the Octopus Stinkhorn is native to Australia. The fungus emerges from an egg which is called superumpent - this means that rather than hatching or germinating it, effectively, erupts in an explosion of enlargement.