It was a case of mycological mayhem.
An Australian town resembled the set of HBO‘s dystopian horror series “The Last of Us” after a mysterious red mass sprouted up under a fire hydrant — and eventually “climbed up the water spout.”
A photo of the fungal anomaly first surfaced on Reddit, sparking a raging debate over the organism’s identity.
“This thing has been growing underneath a leaking fire hydrant for the past few months,” read the caption to the post of the groundbreaking find, which reportedly occurred in a car park in Brisbane.
An accompanying photo, reportedly snapped by the poster’s friend in October 2022, shows the water spigot engulfed by an unidentified burgundy substance.
According to the post, their friend had first noticed the fire-red fungus growing on a “big rock” underneath the hydrant.
The spigot had started “leaking a year ago” — which they suspect helped facilitate the growth of the maroon mushroom.
“We tried turning it off ourselves but couldn’t,” the Redditor quoted their friend as saying. “We contacted landlords, and the council but no one came to turn it off.”
From there, the supposed spores appeared to snowball.
“Eventually the fungus on the rock grew until it reached inside the hydrant,” the friend claimed. “Then someone took the rock away and it was all gone.”
However, the water continued to weep out, causing the vermillion “mushroom” to grow on the ground.
The friend continued to document the mass over time, chronicling its progression as it slowly consumed the entire hydrant à la “The Blob” or an alien symbiote, news.au.com reported.
In the latest photo update, the spongy organism had ascended all the way up to the spigot and had turned a grotesque green, red and brown.
Readers offered theories about possible origins of the hydrant hugger — with many comparing it to the zombifying fungus from the hit “The Last of Us.”
“Is this how ‘The Last of Us’ starts? That’s Cordyceps!” exclaimed one Redditor, with someone else adding, “Damn this looks crazy.”
“Its red so that firefighters are drawn it like a moth to a flame,” joked another. “The fungus spreads from hydrant to hydrant via the firefighters continuing its life cycle.”
“I’m disgusted but simultaneously fascinated at the same time,” said one aghast gawker. “I feel the need to poke it with a very long stick.”
The original poster advised against that, joking that the fungus “might crawl up the long stick and onto your fingers.”
“Pretty sure that’s peat moss (or similar), so that’s why it’s clearly loving the leak!” wrote one Redditor. “Red due to exposure to light, will be greener in shade/underwater. Edit: thought Java, but growth no, probably peat best bet.”
Other theories included everything from a slime mold to algae to “bacteria just enjoying the iron in the water,” per the post.
Unfortunately, despite uploading the fire hydrant photo to a variety of scientific forums, including mycology threads, the Redditor said they still didn’t have a “definitive answer.”
In some of the close-ups, the organism appeared to be getting feasted on by small white bugs.
“There are aphids (or mites?) just having a grand time on there,” they wrote. “Also some ladybugs probably having a quick snack on the aphids? The circle of life.”
The invasion comes as fungal fears hit an all-time high — and not just because of “The Last of Us.”
Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a deadly and drug-resistant fungal disease is spreading at a rapid pace in hospitals across the US.
Dubbed candida auris, the fungus causes serious bloodstream infections and even death in people with weakened immune systems
Like the Blob from the horror