Today he uncovered a mysterious blob in the eighth pond. After some work on Google, this is what Tom discovered…
Tom Drags "The Blob" to Shore |
Close-up of Blob! |
Upon further investigation Tom discovered that this “Jelly Blob” is actually called Pectinatella Magnifica.
This is a large colony of individual animals which eat microscopic plankton and live in a massive gelatinous ball. This grouping of organisms is estimated to have been around for over 500 million years.
Tom said that it felt like a big, slightly heavy, slimy, mushroom.
Tom Holding The Slimy Mass! |
If you would like to find out more about Tom’s amazing discovery, check out these links we found…
http://www.mvcommission.org/doc.php/bryozoan_blob.pdf?id=155
http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=2335
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3KkxMlXyks