Mysterious Disgusting Blobs Strike North & Central Texas Lakes (interesting!)

[The Cleaner]

It sounds like something from a horror movie Jello-like blobs hanging from trees, oozing on the ground and floating in water. And it's happening around Lake Grapevine.

The blobs range from softball to basketball in size and are sometimes described as "floating brains."

But Joe Moore with the Grapevine Parks and Recreation says they're actually freshwater invertebrates called moss animals and a sign of good water quality. They actually eat the microscopic plants that are floating in the water and make the water cleaner.

The blobs are harmless. When they dry up, they turn into a paper-like substance that disintegrates.

http://www.krld.com/pages/939391.php?contentType=4&contentId=911569

[shadowknows69]

1. "the blobs are harmless"

Of course they are dear. Take one home. Maybe they'll multiply like Gremlins or Tribbles.

[av8rdave]

2. I live near that lake...guess I'll have to check it out!

[tularetom]

3. Disgusting blobs? - sounds like Rove actually has returned to TX

[BrklynLiberal]

6. hahahahahaha

Except, of course, he is not harmless...

[HereSince1628]

4. Freshwater bryozoa, never seem available when you want to collect them.

They're freshawater invert students dream

[Magleetis]

10. It sounds like

Bryozoa. I live on a lake in NE Louisiana that is full of them. Supposedly they are a sign of good water quality so I don't mind swimming with them.

[HereSince1628]

15. They won't hurt you, and they do eat a lot of things that make

nutrient rich warm water decidely unpleasant to look at and swim in. But then I'm sort of partial to the clarity of cold, northern, nutrient poor water.

[tridim]

19. Yea, I've seen them in the Lake of The Ozarks

But IMO it really doesn't qualify as "good water quality".

[Oreo]

5. Add that story to the "Mysterious TX Spider Webs"

and I think we may be on to something.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070912145919.htm

[seafan]

7. A giant communal spider web? It's just GHWB's tangled web he wove, don't worry. n/t

[CatWoman]

8. i suggest Steve McQueen investigate

[BlueJazz]

9. Harmless...My Ass.

[Bucky]

11. Do not open, eat, or stay in prolonged content with Happy Fun Ball. Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

Wasn't "mysterious malevolent blobs from outer space" the theme of a SNL skit many years back?

[The Cleaner]

17. Happy Fun Ball! I thought that sounded familiar! Here 'tis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXoKm39vROo

[Ghost in the Machine]

12. Jenna & BarBar went swimming?

:shrug:

[BurtWorm]

13. Now we know what Rove is doing in his retirement.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

14. Grubs are signs of good soil quality

But I still don't want 'em in my garden! We live near there - guess that visit to the old swimmin' hole is postponed indefinitely!

[onethatcares]

16. yep, harmless as hell, that's why they never showed up before

because the water quality was too good. Maybe we'll soon see airborne similarities because the air quality is so good in Houston.

[Nay]

18. They are Texans' shriveled consciences, drying up and blowing away.