strange 'algae'

[Ka30P]

I have three deck tubs going.
One with cattails, one with a small tropical lily :-))
and one with rush and a society garlic.
Last year this middle tub developed a strange algae
form.
It is a fairly firm brown jelly like blob.
Each one is separate from the others. It starts
out small and then gets about the size of a quarter.
You can squish them and they will flatten out.
Looking that them with the magnifying glass they
look like broken brown fibers in jelly.

Easy to pick up and remove from the tub. Glad it
isn't in the main pond.
I think it came in on a papyrus plant I put in there
last year and survived just fine over a fairly severe
cold snap this winter. It really took off this spring
and I've been removing it. Not a big chore, just a
curiosity ;-)


kathy :-)
<A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/">Once upon a pond</A>

[tim chandler]

Could it be a freshwater sponge, or even a bryozoan? They say there are
about 150 species of freshwater sponges:
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/plants/plantid2/descriptions/bryozoan.html
Here's a page with many photos of bryozoans, they vary tremendously in form,
and there are some freshwater ones, like Pectinatella:
http://www.civgeo.rmit.edu.au/bryozoa/photos.html

Ain't it wonderful what manner of creatures we can find in our ponds!

Tim C.

"Ka30P" > wrote in message
...
>
> I have three deck tubs going.
> One with cattails, one with a small tropical lily :-))
> and one with rush and a society garlic.
> Last year this middle tub developed a strange algae
> form.
> It is a fairly firm brown jelly like blob.
> Each one is separate from the others. It starts
> out small and then gets about the size of a quarter.
> You can squish them and they will flatten out.
> Looking that them with the magnifying glass they
> look like broken brown fibers in jelly.
>
> Easy to pick up and remove from the tub. Glad it
> isn't in the main pond.
> I think it came in on a papyrus plant I put in there
> last year and survived just fine over a fairly severe
> cold snap this winter. It really took off this spring
> and I've been removing it. Not a big chore, just a
> curiosity ;-)
>
>
> kathy :-)
> <A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/">Once upon a pond</A>

[Ka30P]

Tim wrote << Could it be a freshwater sponge, or even a bryozoan? >>

Hmmm, that it could be! Strange critter whatever it is!


kathy :-)
<A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/">Once upon a pond</A>

[Karen Mullen]

This sounds like the stuff I had growing on the rocks in my waterfall when in
Houston. Never did find out exactly what it was.

Karen
In article >,
(Ka30P) writes:

>t is a fairly firm brown jelly like blob.
>Each one is separate from the others. It starts
>out small and then gets about the size of a quarter.
>You can squish them and they will flatten out.


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