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I was eating a banana, and I found this strange biological structure inside of it.

enter image description here

It was a bit tougher than the banana, and ran inside of the body through most of the length. To be clear, I peeled back banana with my fingers to reveal it; it was enveloped inside. It was accompanied by a small void.

No idea what this is, never seen anything like it. It didn't taste good. I'm thinking it might be a mutation. Anyone know what this is?

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    $\begingroup$ "didn't taste good"? Are you insane? $\endgroup$
    – A. I. Breveleri
    Commented Feb 11, 2020 at 1:06
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    $\begingroup$ @A.I.Breveleri thought it might give me powers. $\endgroup$
    – Phoenix
    Commented Feb 11, 2020 at 1:42
  • $\begingroup$ @A.I.Breveleri I would assume that's how OP found out something was wrong with their banana. :-) $\endgroup$
    – ProgrammingLlama
    Commented Feb 12, 2020 at 6:55
  • $\begingroup$ @John yep :√) 🍌 $\endgroup$
    – Phoenix
    Commented Feb 12, 2020 at 7:09

1 Answer 1

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It looks like some species of Nigrospora genus took over the inside of that banana. According to Wikipedia, N. sphaerica was first isolated from bananas. The other species that you will find referenced online is N. oryzae. In the articles I cite below the colonies are grown in potato dextrose, though.

Here is a picture of the red fungus inside a banana (from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency):

banana

Googling 'Nigrosporia banana' also returns lots of similar pictures.

To get a better answer, a sample could be taken from the banana and then cross-check what you see under the microscope with the oryzae morphology images seen in the researchgate article.

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    $\begingroup$ Well I won’t be eating bananas again. $\endgroup$
    – canadianer
    Commented Feb 10, 2020 at 8:04
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    $\begingroup$ That's freaky, I don't like that. $\endgroup$
    – Phoenix
    Commented Feb 10, 2020 at 21:31
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    $\begingroup$ @Phoenix Just get revenge on their (distant) family, by consuming copious amounts of mushrooms. It's just like the mafia... only eating food. $\endgroup$
    – Cort Ammon
    Commented Feb 11, 2020 at 3:37
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    $\begingroup$ Wikipedia says it has antiviral properties. Maybe you should eat it? $\endgroup$
    – CJ Dennis
    Commented Feb 11, 2020 at 5:25
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    $\begingroup$ @CJDennis It has some side-effects too, so I wouldn't recommend it. Although apparently they've successfully used it against MRSA cultures, so perhaps it has potential in derivative form. But I suspect this is one of those cases where the cure is worse than the original ailment. $\endgroup$
    – Mast
    Commented Feb 11, 2020 at 14:02

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