T.E.R:R.A.I.N - Taranaki Educational Resource: Research, Analysis and Information Network

SLIME MOLDS ARE NOT FUNGI. Instead, they are classified within the "Kingdom" of protists (Protoctista) that includes all the small organisms that possess nuclei - the amoebae, protozoa, algae, slime moulds, etc. and use use spores to reproduce.  Their common name refers to part of some of these organisms' lifecycles where they can appear as gelatinous "slime" . This is mostly seen with the myxomycetes which are the only macroscopic slime moulds.  The fruitbody consists of a network of swollen veins (plasmodiocarp) that cover several to many square cm and is yellow to mustard-yellow. The outer wall breaks down and the internal threads flounce out to form a cottony, mustard-yellow spore-containing mass. They typically feed on fungal spores, bacteria, and other microbes.

The photos below is of a plasmodial slime mould, termed the Myxomycota (or members of the Class Myxomycetes), which can grow to macroscopic proportions, consisting of a huge mass of protoplasm containing many millions of nuclei.  Photographed at Pukatea Dell  during  April.