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Fishhawk Lake-Bryozoans-Who Knew??

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Real Estate Agent with John L Scott Market Center 700512026

Fishhawk Lake-Bryozoans-Who Knew??

Last night, we had our new neighbors over to get to know them. One of the questions that came up was about some gelatinous gob of goo they saw while on a kayak trip this last weekend on Fishhawk Lake. I have seen this and I swore that it was eggs waiting to hatch that would become some of our resident salamanders who are both land-dwelling and aquatic. 

Salamander at Fishhawk Lake-Gayle Rich-Boxman 2014 Copyrighted All Rights Reserved

I, however, was wrong! In doing some research online, my neighbor, Bobby found that instead they are called Bryozoans.

Bryozoans on a stick(This was exactly what I saw one day on the dock by one of our boatramps).

 


Not very attractive name or look, but interesting nonetheless. He found a link called "PondPros Blog" and it was addressing a question that a customer had about using their products safely with this "thing" that he took pictures of. Turns out that they are freshwater Bryozoans and this was how they were defined according to the blogger's aquatic experts. 

 

Bryozoans are colonies of zooids that function together to outcompete other creatures for a similar food source.  They are filter

feeders that areClose Up of Bryozoan
not finicky in their feeding habits.  They filter the water and consume whatever microorganisms pass through their filter.  These may include bacteria
(both good and bad), protozoa, amoeba, planktonic algae, zoo plankton and the
spores or young of these various organisms.

 

They do not consume non-living wastes that pass through the filter; only living organisms are taken up as food.  It appears that they can only exist and thrive in oxygen rich and food rich environments.  They also require a fairly clean (no turbidity from clay/silt) water.  One other limiting factor would appear to be
depth.  A researcher noted that freshwater bryozoans were limited in his observation to around 6 feet of depth.

Commonly called a "moss animal", here is what Wikipedia had to say:

[bryozoans] are a phylum of aquaticinvertebrate animals. Typically about 0.5 millimetres (0.020 in) long, they are filter feeders that sieve food particles out of the water using a retractable lophophore, a "crown" of tentacles lined with cilia. Most marine species live in tropical waters, but a few occur in oceanic trenches, and others are found in polar waters. One class lives only in a variety of freshwater environments, and a few members of a mostly marine class prefer brackish water. Over 4,000 living species are known. One genus is solitary and the rest colonial.

 

They are called zooids because they are not a completely independent animals. One of the positives mentioned above is that Fishhawk Lake must be an oxygen rich environment with it being a clean, turbidity-free environment, because these are being found here. Fishhawk Lake is our community's water source, so when we see these creatures in our waters, I think it's a good sign! Here was another positive that we can assume, as written in ProPond's blog:

In light of these observations, First of all, bryozoans appear to be beneficial to removing unwanted organisms from the water, so elimination of them would likely be detrimental to the aquatic environment. 

 

So, leave them be if you see them, they're a good moss animal to have around! (Yet, something ELSE in our little community to talk about while on Fishhawk Lake!)

*This one's for you, Bobby...thank you and glad you are my newest neighbors!* 

 

Comments (23)

Ron and Alexandra Seigel
Napa Consultants - Carpinteria, CA
Luxury Real Estate Branding, Marketing & Strategy

Gayle,

Wow, what great information, and it so much fun to learn new things.  This one is an eye opener, and then I remember that there are so many species in the water than have not been given names or truly identified...Thanks for teaching us something new.  A

Oct 20, 2014 06:50 AM
Sharon Lee
Sharon Lee's Virtual Assistance - Jonesborough, TN
Retired and loving life

Gayle-Very interesting and very unique looking,. Another added bonus of living at FH.

Oct 20, 2014 06:52 AM
Gary Woltal
Keller Williams Realty - Flower Mound, TX
Assoc. Broker Realtor SFR Dallas Ft. Worth

I want you to send me my Ph.D in Zoology now. Wow! I didn't even know the area was known as FH according to Sharon. Kind of like LA but with water.

Oct 20, 2014 07:16 AM
Sharon Tara
Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH
Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

Interesting, but I don't think I would want to hold it like in the picture.  Creeps me out a bit.

Oct 20, 2014 08:50 AM
TeamCHI - Complete Home Inspections, Inc.
Complete Home Inspections, Inc. - Brentwood, TN
Home Inspectons - Nashville, TN area - 615.661.029

 Good evening Gayle. That was very interesting. I don't think that I have ever seen that type of invertebrate much less part of it.

Oct 20, 2014 08:58 AM
Gayle Rich-Boxman Fishhawk Lake Real Estate
John L Scott Market Center - Birkenfeld, OR
"Your Local Expert!" 503-739-3843

A~I can thank my new neighbor for this!

Sharon, interesting and unique--that's very nicely put for gelatinous gobs of goo....

Gary Woltal now THAT cracked me up!!  Yeah, we're JUST LIKE L.A.

Sharon, there is kind of a morbid fascination thing going on here....

Michael, and up til today, I thought it was something completely different!

Oct 20, 2014 09:05 AM
Ed Silva, 203-206-0754
Mapleridge Realty, CT 203-206-0754 - Waterbury, CT
Central CT Real Estate Broker Serving all equally

I've seen stuff like that in some of the first Sci-Fi movies, be careful where you put them for when they hatch, Remember the blob?

Oct 20, 2014 09:14 AM
Gayle Rich-Boxman Fishhawk Lake Real Estate
John L Scott Market Center - Birkenfeld, OR
"Your Local Expert!" 503-739-3843

Ed Silva , I prefer to think Cocoon--so much more positive!! 

Oct 20, 2014 09:37 AM
Rob Thomas
Prestige Homes of The Tri Cities, Inc. CALL....423-341-6954 - Bristol, TN
Bristol TN-VA & Tri Cities Agent, ABR, GRI, e-Pro

Isn't it amazing how nature functions and operates??

have a great night

Rob

Oct 20, 2014 10:39 AM
Noah Seidenberg
Coldwell Banker - Evanston, IL
Chicagoland and Suburbs (800) 858-7917

You have a lot of macho guts to pick that up Gayle. Pretty interesting in your hand, not mine, Another one of Mothers Natures wonderful Gifts.

Oct 20, 2014 01:23 PM
Gayle Rich-Boxman Fishhawk Lake Real Estate
John L Scott Market Center - Birkenfeld, OR
"Your Local Expert!" 503-739-3843

Rob, amazing and astounding how she (and God) work together to create such art everywhere. 

Noah Seidenberg , I would love to say that I picked that up, but honestly, I saw this goo gob years ago, all by myself, with no camera in tow. I DID however pick up the large stick that it was attached to and held it out of the water in awe. It was quite heavy!  I found this apt image on the internet (bowing my head in shame).

 

Oct 20, 2014 01:34 PM
James Dray
Fathom Realty - Bentonville, AR

Any animal that help keep the water we consume needs to stay around.  A lot of people would try and eliminate them.... What a shame, glad to hear you look at them differently

Oct 20, 2014 08:26 PM
Joe Petrowsky
Mortgage Consultant, Right Trac Financial Group, Inc. NMLS # 2709 - Manchester, CT
Your Mortgage Consultant for Life

Good morning Gayle. It is early in the morning in the Northeast, my learning for the day has started already. You're right, who knew.

Oct 20, 2014 08:28 PM
Barbara Todaro
RE/MAX Executive Realty - Happily Retired - Franklin, MA
Previously Affiliated with The Todaro Team

Good morning, Gayle Rich-Boxman Fishhawk Lake Realtor (503)755-2905 I hope those aren't your hands holding that creature....OMG that's ugly....

Oct 20, 2014 10:09 PM
Kristin Johnston - REALTOR®
RE/MAX Platinum - Waukesha, WI
Giving Back With Each Home Sold!

I saw this on FB yesterday I think it was....odd looking thing...interesting though!

Oct 20, 2014 10:47 PM
Donald Hester
NCW Home Inspections, LLC - Wenatchee, WA
NCW Home Inspections, LLC

Gayle, Great post love the biology lesson ; ) It is so cool how you take something like Bryozoans and when you learn about them you have a totally new appreciation for them. Most would just see them as blobs but once you know "what and why" it takes on a new light. 

Good stuff, you will become the bio-lady of Fish Lake ;)

Oct 21, 2014 12:30 AM
Roy Kelley
Retired - Gaithersburg, MD

Thanks for the Bryozoans lesson.  This is a very interesting blog and I will schedule it for a re-blog.

Oct 21, 2014 03:14 AM
Roy Kelley
Retired - Gaithersburg, MD

I did take the extra moments to 'like' the comments on this blog. It is a habit that I am trying to maintain.

Oct 21, 2014 03:16 AM
Gayle Rich-Boxman Fishhawk Lake Real Estate
John L Scott Market Center - Birkenfeld, OR
"Your Local Expert!" 503-739-3843

Thanks for stopping by to learn about these funky little creatures! I will be commenting on your blogs now~

Oct 21, 2014 04:13 AM
Barbara-Jo Roberts Berberi, MA, PSA, TRC - Greater Clearwater Florida Residential Real Estate Professional
Charles Rutenberg Realty - Clearwater, FL
Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Clearwater, Safety Harbor

Now that was like being back in biology class! Thanks for sharing and for the wonderful photos.

Oct 21, 2014 05:51 AM