Many species of zoosporic heterotrophic parasites, saprotrophs and mutualists in the Phyla Perkinsozoa (dinoflagellates), Oomycota, Hyphochytriomycota, Labyrinthulomycota and Phyomyxea share morphological characteristics with zoosporic true fungi especially with some of the Chytridiomycota and with fungus-like organisms in the Phyla Mesomycetozoea, Chytridiomycota and Aphelidae. These characteristics include chemotactic motile zoospores, zoosporangia which produce zoospores, thick walled resistant cysts, rhizoid-like structures, hyphal-like structures and cell walls surrounding the cells in several phases of their life cycle. These assemblages also inhabit both marine and freshwater ecosystems in which aquatic fungi and fungus-like organisms are found, have similar life cycles, grow on similar substrates, use similar infection strategies and infect some of the same host plants and animals. Many of these species were once included in the aquatic phycomycetes, an ecological assemblage of microorganisms but not a valid taxonomic group. Some of the shared characteristics are discussed in this review.

Phyla Perkinsozoa（dinoflagellates），Oomycota，Hyphochytriomycota，Labyrinthulomycota和Phyomyxea中的许多种类的动物孢子异养寄生虫，腐生菌和共生生物与真正的人孔孢子菌属，尤其是某些噬菌体，食腐动物和真菌一起具有形态特征。和Ap科。这些特征包括趋化运动的游动孢子，产生游动孢子的游动孢子囊，厚壁的抗性囊肿，类根瘤样结构，菌丝样结构以及在其生命周期的多个阶段围绕细胞的细胞壁。这些组合还栖息在海洋和淡水生态系统中，在其中发现了水生真菌和类真菌生物，它们具有相似的生命周期，并在相似的基质上生长，使用类似的感染策略并感染某些相同的寄主植物和动物。这些物种中的许多曾经被包括在水生植物藻类中，这是一种微生物的生态学组合，但不是有效的生物分类学组。本文中讨论了一些共有的特征。