So
we were walking along the shore Kinzua Reservoir, outside of Warren,
Pennsylvania, when we saw it. It was big
and icky, just wobbling there, all slimy, slowly drying out on the edge of the
water. Oh my God it’s the Blob! Gross!
But
what is it? Let’s find out. First off, let’s start by assuming that it’s
something natural and not some sort of alien freak, mutant or radioactive
monster that wants to eat us all and take over Pittsburgh. So, with that assumption in mind of few
minutes of googling “lake blob”, got me nowhere, unless you wanted to buy a
giant bouncy toy for the swimming hole. Okay,
thinking maybe it really is an alien freak, I tried “alien-looking
lake blob”, and that brought up a bunch of hits.
Turns
out that I was right and it wasn’t an “alien freak”, “mutant brain” or even a “cursed
gummy bear”, the large pile of goop I found was a colony of Pectinatella magnifica, a freshwater organism
called a bryozoan, originally native to freshwater lakes and ponds throughout
much of Eastern North America, from New Brunswick and Ontario, Canada, south to
Florida and Mississippi. The native
distribution spans throughout the Great Lakes region east of the Mississippi
River.
These
“alien-looking lake blobs” are really a collection of thousands of tiny,
microscopic filter-feeding individual animals, related to corals, called zooids,
, a term that refers to a single animal that's part of a larger colonial animal.
The tiny individual organisms are no
larger than 4 millimeters wide and float alone for some time before forming
colonies consisting of thousands of individual zooids. Once together in a giant, squishy-looking
blob, the colony begins to work together for mutual benefit, with each zooid
taking on its own specific role. Bryozoan
Colonies are usually no more than 2-4 inches long or high, but some can be 12
inches or wider. Colonies grow
throughout the summer and reach their largest size in late summer or fall before
dying off in the winter.
Bryozoans
are also called “moss animals” because of their tendency to grow in colonies
that resemble moss or, when they form large masses, they can look like yellowish-green,
gooey, brain-like blobs. The
yellowish-green color of the colony of bryozoans is caused by the algae living
in symbiosis with the bryozoan colony. Their
gelatinous and often complex structure is unlike common lake animals, leading
to comparisons with science fiction creatures. These colonies are filter-feeders, which means
they strain tiny organisms from the water to eat. The individual Pectinatella magnifica zooids
have mucous-coated tentacles that trap diatoms, phytoplankton, and other
microscopic organisms, where cilia, or tiny hairs lining the tentacles, sweep
the food to its mouth.
Pectinatella
magnifica can reproduce in several ways, they can ‘clone’
themselves by budding, but they can also create eggs and sperm and reproduce
sexually. Like other freshwater
bryozoans, they also form hard, round ‘statoblasts’ which function like tiny,
seed-like structures having a hard casing that can withstand cold and dry
conditions, This is unique to bryozoans and
allows them to endure variable and uncertain conditions of their freshwater
environments. Each statoblast can create
a new colony. Statoblasts are created in
the fall, which then scatter widely as the colony decays. The statoblasts attach to free clumps of algae
or debris that sinks to the bottom of the waterbody. The following spring the statoblasts float
back to the surface and germinate. The
summer germination produces quantities of ‘larvae’ that look like miniature
blimps and are free-swimming for 2-24 hours.
After that they then settle on a suitable substrate and establish new
colonies for summer.
Statoblasts
are easily transported by water, on animal legs, in the guts of waterfowl, or
with introduced fish or aquatic plants, allowing bryozoan colonies to spread. Also, if a piece of a bryozoan colony breaks
off, that piece can continue to grow and will form a new colony. Bryozoans prefers the still waters of ponds
and lakes, where it can join with others of its kind to create a strange,
delicate colony.
Bryozoans
have been on Earth for at least 480 million years. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, “These ancient creatures breathe life into freshwater, capturing
plankton and cleaning the water as they drift in slow-moving rivers and lakes”. And the U.S. Geological Survey writes “Pectinatella
magnifica can increase water clarity by removing large quantities of
suspended material from the water, including diatoms, suspended algae, and
inorganic clay/silt. Over time, the
clearer waters may promote algal and macrophytic growth that can restructure
the ecosystem”.
Other
than obvious ‘ick factor’ bryozoans are not dangerous, toxic, venomous, or
harmful to people, though they can clog underwater pipes and screens. In fact these ancient colony creatures are downright
useful. They definitely are not trying to crawl from
the lake to eat you whole or drink your blood!
So if you see one stranded on the shore, push it back into the water.
Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Ten Essentials of Winter
Camping ©”, where we will talk about how to camp in the winter wilderness and
stay warm and safe.
I
hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me
on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE. Don’t forget to follow me on both The
Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE,
and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free
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announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at
bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.
That
is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!
Sources
Keane, Isabel; “Giant
‘mutant blobs’ found floating through US waterways”, Officials have now worked
out what they are”, Independent, August 28, 2025, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/mutant-blobs-magnificent-bryozoan-lake-huron-b2816094.html,
accessed September 6, 2025
Tabor, Roger; “Bryozoan
colony closeup”, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 08/25/2023, https://www.fws.gov/media/bryozoan-colony-closeup,
accessed September 6, 2025
USGS; “Pectinatella
magnifica (Leidy, 1851)”, U.S. Geological Survey, https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=2335,
accessed September 6, 2025
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