This is the second of the only two of these I have ever found. These were found in the Eastern Sonoran Desert, south of the Chocolate Mountains in California. The first one I found was very similar and yellow. It was lying by itself unattached to anything. I brought it in to the biologist in my office, (I work for the BLM). He didn't recognize it, didn't have a microscope to see if it even had cells, and told me it was probably garbage. I brought it home and put it in water, with sun to see if anything happened, and all I got was some surface mold. So I figured it was just a strange piece of garbage. Then I found another one, this one in the picture, deep blue, by itself, unattached to anything. It looks very similar to the first one, besides the color. After finding another one, in a whole different area I had to come here and ask if it could be alive ( I still cant find a microscope). My first thoughts were some dried up blossom off a cacti or flower, or some kind of desert lichen. The biologist in my office still thinks it is garbage, probably an old dried up balloon. So I just wanted to put it out here, to see if anyone could tell me anything definitively. Maybe someone else has found something like this and knows whether it is garbage or is a lichen. Thanks for your help! I'm dying of curiosity! Richard
Re: Lichen, plant or trash? Does anyone recognize this? If you can find a handlens (eg. 10x or 14x magnification), examining the difference between the darker/grayer/bumpy surface layer and the smoother/bluer layer might help with finding the answer. From what I can see from this photo, the bumpy layer looks like it could be biological, which could mean it is an organism growing on the smoother object or organism. Does it bend like rubber or snap like chalk when you bend part of it? cheers, frog
Re: Lichen, plant or trash? Does anyone recognize this? It bends and breaks but it is somewhere gooey-er than chalk and crunchier than rubber. It is a better shade of blue in the center, and seems more like an old crunchy sun-baked rubber-band (if that helps). But its not springy like rubber--might be just unvulcanized (sp?). It could also be like you say, a crunchy layer of lichen (or whatever) over something else. But I'll end this ridiculous description by saying that it is crunchier than it is gooey, being less crunchy in the middle. . I don't have the specimen with me right now, its in the office now. I'll macro zoom it on my camera later and post on this thread if I can. Now what the smoother part could be if its not alive, only God knows what. The shape is so organic I can never fully bring myself to believe that it is man-made. I suppose if anything were out there long enough it could get worn into weird shapes from wind, sun and occasional rain.
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c162/gothamXI/unknown species/ here's some more photos at higher resolution
Dried, baked-in-the-sun leather? Two different locations -- what did they have in common? Both roadside or trailside?
i dont think its leather. its deep purple-blue and more like old rubber than old leather, if anything. both locations were on desert asphalt (just natural packed gravel) they were about 15 feet off the off-road jeep trails that I patrol. they were maybe 10-15 miles apart. the terrain was similar; flat, dry, creosote plants and ocotillo. not much else. palo verde trees...
I would break a piece of a 'tentacle' off, soak it in water overnight. Then, dry it off, scrape your thumbnail up and down it, and see what kind of odor it has. If it's a piece of leather or rubber, or something else non-mushroomy, you should know pretty quickly. If it smells earthy, then we can proceed from there.
Ah, I'm sorry everyone it's a balloon. Macro pictures didn't turn out so good, so I never posted them. And cutting it up, scraping it, and putting it in water didn't give me any satisfactory answer. So I went specifically looking for old balloons out in the desert. The ones I found had similar crunchiness, but were never had the same tendril-like shapes. Also, most were much thinner. But I finally found one that was thicker, and very similar, but next to the round rolled up mouth of the balloon. Still havn't found any others with tendrils, but I'm sure that's what it is. Sorry for wasting your guys' time. But if you ever want to mess with a lichenologist you could always send them one of these. So unfortunately I will not go down in history as the man who discovered the new species of lichen that cures cancer. Pity. I did find some real lichen in the desert though. Bright yellow stuff. Maybe I'll post it in another thread. This kind's not a balloon for sure!
