Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Strange creature

Hey you pond biology types out there. I just found something in my pond I haven't seen before. I found a mass of jelly about the size of a baseball only oval not round. It was attached to a poly pipe submerged in the pond. I've seen all manner of frog and fish eggs and this isn't either I'm sure. It was mainly made from totally clear jelly that was very firm. Hard to break by hand. On the outside surface it is covered with small dark brown dots that are arranged in a pattern. I removed one of the dots and put it under the microscope. Each dot is round and very dense, can't see through it with plain light. Thay also have a regular array of anemone looking tubular structures with tentacles on the end. The tubular structures radiate from the edges of the dot. I can't tell if the round thing is disc shaped or spherical but I only see a single row of these tentacles all around. They don't appear to be all around the surface of a sphere. Each round dot is about 0.5mm or less diameter.

I looked this up and best I can tell it may be a type of invertebrate called bryazoa. Anyone hazard a guess? I can't find a description of exactly what I found.

BTW, one source said that they exist only when there is very good water quality. That makes me feel good.

bz,
I happened across a big glob like that in Chickamauga Lake once. I'd be interested to know what you found. Seems like I read about a similar mass once but have long since forgotten what it was.Was it anything like this one?

http://www.microscopyu.com/galleries/dxm1200/pectinatellasmall.html

Chip

Well mine is certainly not pink. Perhaps they died that one. Mine is absolutely as clear as a clear ice cube just removed from a drink. Only thing not clear is the dots all over the surface. Nothing inside the jelly at all. And they are arranged in the pattern of flower petals. Probably a couple hundred to make up each flower. The shape is oval and solid. No irregular protrubances at all except a little lumpy on the surface where the dots are. Each flower arrangement seems to have its own lump to reside on.

The one I came across was brain shaped and a little smaller than a football.The photo is enhanced with colors to show detail. Here is one more similar to the one I saw.

http://www.pbase.com/rodg/image/23945856

Chip

I think I found it. It does appear to be what you cited even though the first picture didn't look the same. Check this site and you'll find exactly what I saw.

http://www.millermicro.com/bryozoa.html

BRYOZOANS (Water Brains!)
by Ewan Craig, 2003

If you are swimming and bump into what looks like a brain from Saturn don’t get freaked out because it is just a harmless bryozoan colony. However, if you pierce it, it might give off poison.

Many people think bryozoans are extinct but they still live in lakes and oceans. The bryozoans that live in salt water are a lot different from fresh water bryozoans. Fresh water bryozoans live in colonies which can get as big as a basketball. A new colony will start from larva or from statoblasts which are like seeds. Bryozoans are water animals so that means they eat and digest tiny animals like plankton by filtering them out of the water. Each bryozoan is about 1 mm long (see picture below).

Freshwater bryozoan colonies are usually found around branches that have fallen into still water. If you cut one of these colonies in two you would find gelatin type stuff inside.

When you see bryozoan fossils they look like moss. That is why in Greek bryozoan means moss animal. Bryozoans have been around for about 500,000,000 years!

Very interesting,
Thanks for the link. I'm glad to know what it was.
Chip

Right on, fellas.
It's bryozoans.
Mark Cornwell wrote a great story about them in a recent edition of Pond Boss. Told all about them.
They are a sign of good, stable water quality parameters.

For shame gentlemen, for shame.......aren't we all subscribers to Pond Boss Magazine????

Jelly Blobs!

I am now.

Chip

Peace!!! I was just kidding.

Does Cecil have a minimum size on those things?

No worries Sunil, I've meant to for some time but figured I was really missing out if something as obscure as bryozoans was covered. That could very well be a final jeopardy question and now I'll know it! :-)
Chip

Lusk sometimes dedicates twenty or more pages each month to the bryozoans.

He's even considering an "Ask the Bryozoan" question and answer section--questions such as:

"How does it feel to be a bryozoan"?....

and "Is it easy to hurt a bryozoans feelings"?


It's been well known for years that the Pond Boss board of directors is made up almost entirely of bryozoans.

They are not that uncommon in East Texas waters. I've seen them numerous times through the years. Never knew what to call them other than neat until now.

Hard to believe but in researching this thing I found there is an "International Bryozoan Society". I guess I should be glad that someone cares about these things. Hey George, what do you do for a living? I'm in Bryozoans and head of the International Bryozoan Society!

I had fun with my daughters on this one. I put the thing on a plate on the kitchen table during dinner and sliced it up with a butter knife. Everyone was quite disgusted. One of my kids was brave enough to try to touch it. When she did I bumped the table and screamed "It's the blob and its going to get you!" She fell off her chair trying to get away.

From the web site I posted it appears that this may be another result of our low warm water conditions this year. The amazing thing is that this thing did not exist the day before I found it because the pipe I found it on was high and dry. The rain occured during the night and rose the level enough to cover the pipe, by 6 o'clock that evening this thing had grown.

Not the first time we have encountered the bryozoan's blob here. Note BC's comment wrt them being a indication of healthy water.

http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=19;t=000135

http://www.millermicro.com/bryozoa.html

I've long suspected that Lusk himself is a bryozoan.

These are the same bad jokes that have been made since the Bryozoac Era.

I've seen several references to the fact that fish will eat these critters. I wonder if the jelly is high protein? Could be great to have some around under the ice during the winter. I noticed that mine begain to melt after it was out of the water for a while. I did see the creatures that formed this mass. Looked like worms embedded in the jelly. I assume that's where the feathery appendages come out for feeding. And to think all this just came about by chance. Sorry, just had to get that jab in for the evolutionists out there.

It's great to see Sunil in peak form. He can spell bryozoan. I couldn't spell "Sunil" until I saw it seventeen times. I didn't know if it was an affliction or a Pennsylvanian. Then, I looked it up in my biological dictionary. Sunil means "bryozoan" in piratological languages, interpreted by Theo Condello. Now, we all know. Peace, my Pond Boss brother....can't wait to see you in Texas.