most endoparasitic fungi have spores that are attracted to soil nematodes and tend to congregate in the mouth region. having penetrated the cuticle, the hyphae grow throughout the nematode, absorbing its tissues. escape tubes emerge from these and grow through the cuticle, and in due course, further motile spores exit through these, ready to infect other nematodes. in other species of fungi, it is conidia rather than spores which are encountered by the nematode and infect it in a similar way. in the case of "harposporium anguillulae", the sickle-shaped conidia are ingested by the nematode and lodge in the oesophagus or gut from where they invade the tissues.