12 replies to this topic

[MScooter]

Found this guy at a lake in the Yalobusha watershed yesterday. They were growing around fixed wood structure from 2" to 12" deep. Mostly ovoid in shape with the largest being aproximately 8" long with a diameter of 3". I am often on the next lake down the stream and never see these.
Has anyone kept them?
Any idea on the particular species?
Do I need to take Ripley fishing with me next time?

[wegl2001]

Uland Thomas and I collected this mass floating in a swampy area just north of Mobile, AL. It was originally round and about the size of a basketball. The white marks were very well defined and in a starfish shape. It had a hole big enough to stick your fist into and was basically hollow with walls about 3" thick. It had a firm consistancy but tore very easily as you can see from the photo. I have collected here many times before and after we found this but haven't found any others. Any idea what this is?
 unknown_mass.jpg   74.35K   0 downloads

[MScooter]

It's definantly some Bryozoa Phylactolaemata. Bryozoas are coral like colonies more common in brackish environments the Phylactolaemata class ae those that are freshwater. Species information I have no idea about. By your description and my observation it was probably once anchored around a large stick before something knocked it off. Quick googling did not reveal much info on distribution, captive care, species identification, etc... just a lot of "OMG!!! Zoinks!!! WTF IS IT" and very in depth journal articles. Are there Phylactolaemata knowledgable people out there in NANFAland that can explain more to the laymen?

[hmt321]

I have seen those things all over the Mobile AL area,

direct quote from Irate Morman "yep thats about as exciting as they get"

I always assumed they were some sort of jelly fish egg mass

I never had more than a passing interest though

[Irate Mormon]

Quote

direct quote from Irate Morman "yep thats about as exciting as they get"

Haha! That's what sets in after the "OMG!!! Zoinks!!! WTF IS IT" wears off!

[MScooter]

The time has come to bump into these again. Is there anyone in NANFAland to tell us more about these Bryozoa?

[Newt]

This species is Pectinatella magnifica.  The colonies are normally anchored to logs or other substrate, but in the fall they sometimes come loose and wash ashore.  The zooids are only on the outer surface of the colony; the interior is non-living jelly.

I've tried to keep a couple of these, but they rotted right away.

[scottefontay]

I've seen these up in the Adirondack Mtns. quite a few times in various lakes and ponds, usually oligatrophic to slightly mesotrophic waterbodies.  Freshwater sponges were often found nearby.

[Kanus]

scottefontay, on Mar 20 2008, 10:53 AM, said:

I've seen these up in the Adirondack Mtns. quite a few times in various lakes and ponds, usually oligatrophic to slightly mesotrophic waterbodies.  Freshwater sponges were often found nearby.

As a slight derail...has anyone successfully kept any FW sponges?

[Moontanman]

I've collected these things before and kept them for short periods of time, the main limiting factor seems to be that snails love to eat them! I think they occur most often in areas where snails either can't get to them or there are a large population of snail eating fishes. Since I always have snails in my tanks I haven't tried to keep them in quite a while. I'm not sure how they feed but I would assume them to be filter feeders. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of pigments for photosynthesis.

[Moontanman]

Kanus, on Apr 17 2008, 12:06 PM, said:

As a slight derail...has anyone successfully kept any FW sponges?

I haven't kept freshwater sponges but I am interested, especially in the green ones that live off the algae in their bodies. If anyone keeps them or has kept them I would like to hear from you.

[FourSeineFeet]

I have seen Bryozoans in Michigan
and
during the Mingo National Wildlife Refuge canoe trip
at 2006 NANFA National Convention, Cape Girardeau, MO.
Robert Hrabik saw the Bryozoans too.

I think of Bryozoans as fresh water coral, and probably require a similar stream of food.

[Mysteryman]

Run for your lives! Get out of the water! You're in the breeding grounds for.... The BLOB!

There is a popular recreational pond near here that is chock full of these things. It's also full of big mystery snails. I never connected the two before, but I'd say the blobs have no problem keeping ahead of predation by the snails. Come to think of it, neither blobs nor big snails are common anywhere else in this area, although very common in this one pond. Lots of Bladderwort plant there, too, which is again very rare otherwise. It's not a big pond, either.

That pond is also full of 'gators, and people are bitten fairly regularly when they stray from the designated swimming areas.