NANFA-- Re: NANFA- Colonial Hydrozoans (At Cranberry Glade Lake!)

Jeffrey Fullerton (tcmajorr_at_westol.com)
Tue, 20 Jun 2000 20:38:10 -0400

I was not able to open the first one. But now that the subject of bryozoans has
come up again I forgot to mention that on our Cranberry Lake trip Mike and I
found something of that order growing on various sticks, roots and other objects
in the lake. It looks very much like something I saw once in Maryland - the kind
that grows into basketball sized nodules that often protrude from stagnant
waters.

This is the first time I've noticed this stuff at Cranberry, but I saw something
similar blanketing the undersides of a floating dock at Greenlick Lake right here
in my own backyard. The color is a transluscent pinkish brown and the structure
is divided into individual cells like oversized kernels of corn or an even better
description - gelatinous mass like frog eggs!

I don't know what they are exactly but I collected a couple of plum sized nodules
by scooping them up in a discarded bait container and brought them home. I'm
going to attempt to keep them alive at least long enough to study them a bit.
Interesting notes so far - these colonial organisms are mircocosyms themselves
supporting a number of other comensual organisms - so far red worms (midge
larvae) and mayfly nymphs. And who knows what else.

Jeff

DasArm_at_aol.com wrote:

> I found some photos of fw colonial hydrozoans occurring in the U.S. Address:
> http://www.wheaton.edu/Biology/facultyncf/research/hydroids/htm
> Here are some fw Bryozoans from Lake Michigan, along with bryozoans from
> other parts of the world. The Lake Michigan bryozoans are listed next to
> David Barnes' name (from Purdue University).All other bryozoans are non-North
> American species. Address: http://www.civgeo.rmit.edu.au/bryozoa/photos.html
>
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