Javascript Disabled Detected

You currently have javascript disabled. Several functions may not work. Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality.

Rings of jelly from Northern WI

Started by Guest_cjr_* , Nov 21 2011 09:21 PM

Please log in to reply

9 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_cjr_*

Guests

Posted 21 November 2011 - 09:21 PM

What kind of organisms/eggs are these?

One was found above the water attached to a juncus stem and the other was found in the water attached to vegetation.

Gelatinous Goo on Lakeshore Vegetation by corey.raimond, on Flickr

Gelatinous Ring Attached Underwater to a Water Lily Stalk by corey.raimond, on Flickr

Gelatinous Ring Attached Underwater to a Water Lily Stalk by corey.raimond, on Flickr

Thanks,

-Corey

Back to top

#2 Guest_Kanus_*

Guests

Posted 21 November 2011 - 09:29 PM

Yellow perch eggs perhaps? That's the only fishy answer I could come up with. I'm not familiar with your local herps but maybe a frog or salamander of some sort? Some of the bryozoans make a gelatinous goo but I've never seen it form like that.

Back to top

#3 Guest_rjmtx_*

Guests

Posted 21 November 2011 - 09:40 PM

My best guess is snail eggs.

Back to top

#4 Guest_exasperatus2002_*

Guests

Posted 22 November 2011 - 08:46 AM

could be a local salamander or frog. Ive never seen fish eggs have a jelly mass like that. Usually thats an amphibian thing. Im used to seeing spotted salamanders egg masses which are big jelly balls.

My link

Back to top

#5 Guest_cjr_*

Guests

Posted 22 November 2011 - 09:50 AM

Thanks for the replies. I am really doubting the frog/salamander this for a couple reasons 1) I come from a herpetology background- the eggs are too small, stringy and connected in a loop. I actually own a copy of an illustrated guide to larvae/eggs of the midwest. 2) This was in late August and any herp eggs would have been long hatched by then.

A snail or fish sound reasonable, given that the one was found above water seems to make fish less likely though.

-Corey

Back to top

#6 Guest_Newt_*

Guests

Posted 22 November 2011 - 11:23 AM

I agree that it's definitely not any kind of amphibian. The gross appearance is similar to the egg masses of physid snails, but those are usually quite small; it would take a heck of a snail to deposit such a big egg mass (I can't imagine it's a communal mass), and the big aquatic snails in such environments are Viviparus, which are of course viviparous. Do you have Asian mystery snails (Cipangopaludina)? I couldn't find a good image or description of their eggs online, but they might have a a mass that size.

*EDIT* Ok, I'm dumb. Cipangopaludina/Bellamya are also viviparous. These might be from one of the big Lymnaea/Stagnicola species.

Back to top

#7 Guest_gerald_*

Guests

Posted 22 November 2011 - 01:26 PM

I'm wondering if you have two different things here. The glob of snot on the juncus looks like eggs (midge? dragonfly? ...?) The ring in the water with smaller green dots might be an alga. I dont think either one is a snail egg mass.

Back to top

#8 Guest_fundulus_*

Guests

Posted 22 November 2011 - 01:29 PM

I agree with Gerald's assessment, and I'd go further and say that the mass with the smaller green dots is something like Volvox.

Back to top

#9 Guest_nativeplanter_*

Guests

Posted 22 November 2011 - 01:46 PM

I agree with Gerald's assessment, and I'd go further and say that the mass with the smaller green dots is something like Volvox.

I've only seen Volvox as free-swimming colonies (each greed dot being a colony of algal cells); never in a gelatinous mass like that. Being as they are motile, I wouldn't suspect them to occur that way, either. But perhaps I'm wrong?