Aquatic Jelly Mass, ID of Eggs

Floating the shallow area of a lake near my house, I found several algae/moss coated masses. I was able to retrieve one mass that was the size of a softball and bring it to shore for closer examination. The mass is jello-like and appears to have an opening to internal cavity. The pea-sized globules that make up the mass have white spots and white splotches within. The mass is quite heavy out of water and surface was very slimy. The depth of the water site was 12 ~ 24 inches and the mass was floating just below the surface. I placed it on a dry rock and took some good digital images of it, in and out of water. Another floating mass was seen nearby which was about the size of a soccer ball. There was no movement observed in the egg mass, which I suspect may be from amphibeans. If you are unable to provide a positive ID based on this description, please advise how to attach jpeg images. I am unable to figure out how to attach photos to this inquiry. Thank you.

Here is a way to post pictures:
http://z2.invisionfree.com/Fishpondinfo/in...?showtopic=4262

I'm not sure what they could be until you post pics and I will try to help you. Robyn will be on tommorrow or maybe later today. Here's her page about identifying eggs:
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/egg.htm

Hope this helps! Oh, and by the way, Welcome To The Forum!

Thanks Kenny for the welcome and the assistance with Photobucket for pic posting. There should be 4 photos with text somewhere. Sorry about being messy with the forum.

That is a free-floating freshwater sponge. Genus is Spongilla. Not eggs at all.
I make that identification from the greenish coloration and appearance of porous nature of surface, interior texture of first three pix. Slimy nature of fourth picture makes it look like colonial freshwater Bryozoan. Either way, they are NOT eggs.

Picture of sponge: http://www.broadwaters.fsnet.co.uk/images/sponge.jpg

Picture of bryozoa: http://www.westol.com/~towhee/images/bryozoa4.jpg

Don

Before I started ponding I'd be like 'ewwww, keep that away from me!!!' . Now it's 'hey, cool...can I grab it?'

Very interesting Don, I can remember seeing those many years ago and wondering what the heck, Thanks.

Fm3

Don beat me to it! I was going to say bryozoan before I even saw the photos. There are no egg masses that big! I've been looking for some more good photos for my site of bryozoans so now I'll have to link to this post. Those blobs are pretty neat colonial animals.

Thank you Don & Robyn. So, I get it that they are not eggs of any type, but are fresh water sponges and/or bryozoan colonies the same things? Does it's size continue to grow? The small minows and fish that swim around it don't seem to bother it.

I'm attaching one more image where I placed the colony on a dry rock and let some water drain out. The jelly exterior shows up better.



Thanks again, you've be very helpful.

FotoFrogFred

Sponges and bryozoans (or moss animals) are two different groups of animals. Both are colonial animals and similar. I think what you found are bryozoans although Don seems to think they are sponges? They will continue to grow bigger.

I found this interesting page:
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:4O-36...clnk&cd=5&gl=us

Another freshwater sponge pic

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_P8wAdcKzJB8/RpjkFPle...fU/P7130036.JPG

Cold Gold, the link to the sponge pic would not open up. Get "not found" error message

Robyn
The texture of the interior in the first pictures appears to be sponge-like, while the jelly-like material of the fourth picture appears bryozoan. Without actually seeing the things, it is difficult to say, but I would tend to agree that they are probably bryozoan colonies. The first picture, though, looks more like a freshwater sponge. Of course, there is nothing to preclude having both in the same waters.

Don

Thank you Don & Robyn for staying with this. This afternoon I got on the phone with the Ark. Game & Fish Commission, and described the mass to one of their biologist who tends to think they are bryozoan. He said bryozoa are very common and found in most lakes. He didn't think that sponges ranged in our area, but he would consult with other fishery experts who were out of the office when I called. I emailed them the same photos to try to get a positive ID and should know something soon, maybe tomorrow.
Incidently, (and this is off topic) someone I spoke to mentioned freshwater jellyfish in our states largest lake. I guess like bryozoans, they can hitch a ride on migrating waterfowl - but then, you probably already knew that.

Fred

Don, I think the colonies in the first few photos were damaged and busted open so they didn't look as they would normally.