A Fungus Amongus

This morning when I walked outside to go to work I saw this in the mulch next to my lawn. What in the...? I couldn't make up my mind whether it was cool or gross. It looked like bright yellow foam of some sort. Was it a sort of fungus or just simply animal vomit? It looked too well-formed and not slimy enough to be barf. So I took a couple of pictures and when I got to work I did a Google search on "fungus that looks like vomit." Lo and behold there is a fungus, a slime mold really, called Dog Vomit Fungus, aka Fuligo Septica.

Here is what one expert has to say about the subject:

This colorful growth occurs when the mold is beginning its fruiting stage. It can appear seemily overnight causing some people to question what it is and how it got there. Therefore, you can see how this mold got its common name........

It must be Fluffy from across the street.......

The size of this species can be very small (say a Jack Russell terrier who ran in circles too much) to very large (that Saint Bernard ate my burrito).

It's gross and cool. It's Dog Vomit Slime Mold!