Mrs Potts Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Please don't read this if you don't like nematodes/slugs/insects and beasties and it is a bit of a long shot. Last year, I found some wriggling softbodies creatures swimming about in some standing water up the garden. They had long tails, wriggled, and were fairly clear or white in body. I left them alone because I looked them up on Google and think they were harmless. Can't remember what they were, though. This morning, I was cutting some holly tips for YD to take to school as cake decorations. Brought it in, washed it and covered it in cold water. Put in a squirt of alcohol gel for good measure - and all these things came to the surface! They were a bit like clear jelly, wriggling around without tails - like very flat bubbles, about 5mm big. I wondered first if maybe it was spots of grease from the plastic tub - but boy did these things move, in a very similar way to the things I found last year. I'm afraid the alcohol gel did for them. Does anyone know what they were or what the reaction to the alcohol gel came from? Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyhunnypie Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Found this for you... Jelly Blobs is a term often used for a type of single cell animals called Bryozoans. Several varieties live in freshwater and attach in colonies to twigs, limbs, ropes and dock posts in the water. They look like brown blobs of jelly. If you look at them closely they have small star-like structures that are different groups of the animals, called zooids. (picture) Bryozoans Description - Round or oval shaped blobs of jelly like material attached to things in the water. Color is shades of clear to mottled browns, depending on how much silt is in the water. They feel solid but slimy to the touch. Emma.x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LolaLayla Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Goodness, it's amazing what is out there. I have a small wildlife pond in the garden and love having a look at all the creatures in the water I used to take the children pond dipping...but it was really for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Pudding Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Not nematodes, they are longer and more definitely worm shaped... Bryozoans sounds right. Harmless enough but I wouldn't fancy them on cake! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
