September 6, 2026: The Magnificent Bryozoan

On one paddle around the lake this week I discovered enough items of interest to fill four journals, but I'll restrain myself to just a couple. There were pretty flowers and ripe berries along the shore, fish surfacing to catch insects, turtles sunning themselves on logs, but the most unique was a large, round bryozoan community clinging to the end of a long submerged branch.

Blob on a Stick:  Magnificent Bryozoa (Pectinatella magnifica)

I've seen these before and always think they're an amphibian's egg mass - frog, salamander - before remembering no, it's the wrong location and the wrong time of year for eggs.

The colony formed at the tip of a long, submerged branch.

Slowly it comes to me that it's a colony of hundreds of thousands of microscopic organisms called Bryozoa.  These are filter-feeding organisms that have tiny cilia that reach out to capture algae, phytoplankton, and other organic debris which helps keep clear the water.  But they also require clean water to survive, so their presence is a good sign in a waterbody.  Early on my paddle I did find a small accumulation of cyanobacteria.

Cyanobacteria, likely Gloeotrichia echinulata.  (Thank you MT for help with identification!)

My research on whether magnificent bryozoa reduces blue-green algae is mixed.  Some references state bryozoa do take in cyanobacteria, but also found that they expel much of it alive.  [Ref:  SébastienAutret,MariaInesMoreiradeGouveia,AudreyVanhove,SéverineAllegra,FrançoiseGirardot.Assessmentofthecyanobacteriarisk,consideringtheinvasivebryozoanPectinatellamagnifica:methodologicalapproach.AquaEcOmics,Mar2025,EvianlesBains,France.,2025]

Most of the glob is a gelatinous sphere which supports the colony - all the living organisms are on the outside where their cilia can reach out to grab their prey. 

Note they are also expanding down the branch.

Though they look creepy, they're completely harmless to the point you can touch them, but if you do, be careful to not damage them so they can continue to perform their work.  

The second item of note was much larger, and though just as interesting, not as exciting.

A large floating mat of organic material.

I found these large mats of floating organic material in several shallow areas with low waterflow.  They  show the process of the eutrophication of a lake.  When organic material - mostly aquatic plants - dies where oxygen levels are low, it decomposes at a slow enough rate that it accumulates faster than it decays, which results in these large floating mats.  Once they form, they can grow quickly as more organic material collects along the periphery. 

Over time they thicken such that plants grow on them, pulling out water and dropping more organic materials. 

Pickerel Weed taking up residence on a floating mat.

Eventually they become thick and firm enough to support trees, and that one can walk on them without sinking down into the water on which they float.  In the not too distant future - perhaps in my grandchildren's lifetime - one may be able to walk to some of the islands in Lake Wicwas that are currently separated by shallow marshes or bogs.

A great local example of this process, where you can actually walk on a lake now covered by these organic mats, is the Philbrick-Cricenti Bog in New London.  

A boardwalk on the Philbrick-Cricenti bog.

I highly recommend a visit if you've never been there - it's quite an experience.  You can find more information about that bog here.

Early this year we had a skunk visiting the yard on a regular basis.  This week, it's been a porcupine!  It seems to really enjoy feasting on clover and other plants in the yard.  It truly is not concerned with with its safety as it just continued dining as we stood there and took pictures. 

And when we decided it was time to shoo it away, it was very reluctant to leave its dinner table, but after we made enough racket, it finally decided to vamoose.

I'll end with a few other sights from my morning paddle.

Painted turtles collecting solar rays to strengthen their shells for winter hibernation.

Bladderwort

Crows, just hanging out.

An osprey soaring overhead, looking for breakfast.

September is a beautiful time on the lake.