water mold

water mold, (order Saprolegniales), order of about 150 species of filamentous funguslike organisms (phylum Oomycota, kingdom Chromista). Many water molds live in fresh or brackish water or wet soils. Most species are saprotrophic (i.e., they live on dead or decaying organic matter), although some cause diseases in certain fishes, plants, algae, protozoans, and marine invertebrates. Common genera include Achlya, Leptolegnia, and Saprolegnia.

Water molds are minute organisms, but the mycelium (filaments composing the body of the water mold) is often conspicuous around bits of decaying organic matter. Reproduction is commonly by motile asexual spores (zoospores), which may be of two types: pear-shaped with two apical flagella (whiplike structures) 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.