[citation needed] It has a worldwide distribution and colonizes many habitats such as vegetational products, soil and houses.

[2] However, the organism is best known from the mould form which is characterised by the production of asexual reproductive state consisting of tall (up to 2 cm) needle-like sporangiophores with an apical swelling enclosed by a large sporangium filled with ellipsoidal, single-celled, smooth-walled, unpigmented sporangiospores.

During sexual reproduction, hyphae of compatible mating types touch and fuse, ultimately giving rise to a thick-walled zygosporangium containing a single zygospore.

Germination from the zygospore leads to growth of new hyphae that give rise to asexual spores of both + and - mating type.

[2] M. racemosus possesses the ability to exhibit multiple morphology (mainly, filamentous and spherical shape) to withstand various environmental stress.

[citation needed] While the species is primarily soil-based, it has been shown to exist elsewhere such as in horse manure, plant remains, grains, vegetables and nuts.

[3] M. racemosus is uniquely known for its ability to display multiple morphologies but most of the time, studies are made based on the dimorphic form of the species.

[17][18][19] Allergies to M. racemosus have been reported to affect immunologically normal individuals from in a range of places (Netherlands, Turkey and Brazil).

[26] Mucor racemosus-specific IgE antibody is commonly used and available for medical as well as laboratory use in allergen assay (ImmunoCAP).

These adapted cells have been studied to better understand their greater efficiency of membrane transport (efflux of drugs).

[28] Mucor racemosus can biotransform lipids like 4-ene-3-one steroids and 20(S)-Protopanaxatriol into several different products, some of which have anticancer properties (as the metabolites resulted in increased intracellular calcium ion content, leading to cell cycle arrest and apoptosis).

[29][30] Two of the products formed from this biotransformation are two novel hydroperoxylated metabolites that have been shown to be effective against prostate cancer cells.