Social media photos show evolution of strange red ‘blob’ growing under a Brisbane fire hydrant

A mysterious red mass has spread around a fire hydrant prompting people to wonder whether the slimy lump is something out of a ‘War of the Worlds’ movie.

The bizarre growth which was first noticed in a residential car park in Brisbane’s CBD last October has been climbing up into the mouth of the leaking hydrant. 

The red blob has expanded from the ground, first turning a rusty colour before taking on a green and black look as it took over the connecting water supply. 

The images were posted to social media this week and captioned: ‘This thing has been growing underneath a leaking fire hydrant for the past few months (QLD).’

They were from a friend of the original poster who said the hydrant started leaking a year ago onto a spot where there had been a 20cm-tall rock.  

 The strange growth which was first noticed in a residential car park in Brisbane’s CBD last October has been climbing up into the mouth of the leaking hydrant

It turned a darker colour before taking on a green and black look as it took over the connecting water supply

The images (pictured, the unusual growth) were posted to social media this week and captioned: ‘This thing has been growing underneath a leaking fire hydrant for the past few months (QLD)’

‘We tried turning it off ourselves but couldn’t. We contacted the landlords, and the city council but no one came to turn it off,’ the friend said of the leak. 

‘Eventually the fungus on the rock grew until it reached inside the hydrant… then someone took the rock away and it was all gone.

‘But the leak continued and after a week or two the new fungus appeared on the ground. That was when I started taking photos of it, knowing it would grow again.’

The red growth took off, surging upward and changing to black and green colours as it reached the mouth of the hydrant again. 

Updated pictures showed some plant life with aphids and a ladybug perching on the formation. 

‘Looks like those red veins from the Tom Cruise War of the Worlds movie,’ said one commenter. 

‘I love the dedication to documenting it’s… evolution,’ another said. 

‘Reminds me of the muppets. The chef that has to fight off the spaghetti,’ a third wrote. 

‘It’s the fungus from the original Super Mario Bros movie,’ a fourth joked. 

But it also sparked some serious debate over what it was. 

‘Doesn’t look fungal, the fibres are too big to be mycelium but too fine to be a coralloid fruiting body. Maybe a root mass or something like that,’ one suggested. 

‘That doesn’t seem like a fungus, looks more like a type of mold or bacteria,’ another wrote. 

Updated pictures showed some plant life with aphids and a ladybug perching on the formation

‘I love the dedication to documenting it’s… evolution,’ a social media commenter said about the library of images (pictured, an updated photo of the fire hydrant overcome by the mass)

‘A friend of mine had something like this growing under his house where a pipe was leaking. He described it as a giant mushroom!’ one more said.  

Experts from the Queensland Museum, the Queensland Herbarium and the CSIRO contacted by Yahoo News Australia were unable to say what it was as they needed a sample to learn more. 

Some on social media thought up the idea of taking a sample of it to a scientific lab to test but others were happy to do their own investigations. 

‘I’m disgusted but simultaneously fascinated at the same time. I feel the need to poke it with a very long stick,’ they wrote.