Don’t panic
But the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife asks people to not “be alarmed” if they find these “strange jelly-like balls hanging from submerged tree limbs.”
These microorganisms – bryozoans – are “native and are of no danger to you or wildlife.”
Dating as far back as 470 million years – older than dinosaurs – the microscopic aquatic invertebrates are no larger than 4 millimetres as individual zooids. Having both male and female reproductive organs, they “continually clone themselves until they create a large mass where they filter tiny particles out of the water for food.”
“These animals are an important part of the ecosystem because they help clean the water and serve as prey for mussels, snails, and even small fish,” the department writes, explaining that finding filter-feeding bryozoans in water is an indication of good water quality.
Bryozoans are found in every continent, except Antarctica where water conditions are too cold, and “often spread through water connectivity or even by passing through the intestinal tract of fish or birds!”
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