Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Identify pond eggs

My wife and I dangle a minnow trap off of our pier to catch bait fish for trot lines. We noticed a small glob of some sort of eggs inside the trap and went back in a month or so and the whole thing is covered in the same kind of eggs.

How can we identify them? Frog, turtle, fish???

Hi Chandler,

Definitely not turtle. They look like miniature hen's eggs, and are laid on land.

Not likely frog's eggs, because I have never observed frogs getting their seasons mixed up.

Not likely fish, becuse they seldom attach their eggs to objects in groups.

Could be minnows of some sort. Fatheads guard their eggs fiercely. Check to see if they are hanging close by the eggs.

Can you get a picture of the eggs. Approximately what size is each egg; 1mm, 2mm, larger?

Chandler :

Are you sure they are eggs ? Do they look like this link.

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

Thanks. Yes, that looks a lot like what I have in my pond. I will take a photo later and post it so that it can be confirmed.

We are some 13 inches below average rainfall for the year and the article with the photo you supplied had similar situations to what we have experienced.

I have mixed emotions about what to do with the mass. Anyone have recommendations as to I should just leave it alone or dispose of it?

They're harmless critters, and some even say they clear up the pond water somewhat.

Sort of ugly though.

Fish (BG) eat the stuff so I would leave them alone other than to get them off of your trap. ewest

Here's the photo I took of the mass I was talking about. What do you think it is?

Thanks for the reply.
Click for Photo Discussed

Those are a real healthy, prolific, expanding colony of bryozoans. These are not eggs and are actually a form of an animal (animal kingdom, Phylum Bryozoa). Certain genera (Pectinatella) live in a jelly like colony that can be large similar to those you have. They are indicators of unpolluted waters. Many are shaped like brains. Yours are similar to that type. If you take a clump of the material and place it submerged in pond water in a large clear glass jar you may be able to see the small "feather like" animals extend from the jelly mass. Let us know if it works. For more info on them look them up on a Google search.

Mother Nature is great and all, but that thing is just nasty.

It does look like something Steve McQueen and the gang from the Malt Shop should be fighting, doesn't it?

We have bryozoans in 2 of our ponds and I know a little about them. That is why I sent Chandler to the site on them . I have encountered that same question " what is that, a big blob of fish eggs ?" many times. They can be found in many waters . Here is a link to a better pic. (underwater) from the Conn. River. By the way BG and RES will feed on them esp. in the winter. ewest

http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/bryozoa.html