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Ponds in the UK

snail eggs

21 years ago

If I pond dip now I pull out thousands of snail eggs.

I think they are snail eggs, small round jellies in clumps. They are all over the place, I have seen snail eggs before but never as many. Has any one else noticed this explosion and is it harmful??

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Comments (8)

dampflippers
21 years ago
My snail eggs are usually stuck to the back of leaves or the edge of the pond, not loose in the water.
chippewacat
21 years ago
They aren't yellow are they? Like bubbly yellow globules floating about? (unlike common snail eggs which are clear sausages with specks, or ramshorn eggs which I understand are pink and flat).

Beware of yellow globules masquerading as snail eggs.....
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dean33
21 years ago
So what are the yellow globules?
chippewacat
21 years ago
Sorry to be so cryptic, I was in a hurry so didn't have time to find out the name of what it turned out to be from a previous thread. But that thread has now disappeared from e-space so I have to do this from memory.

Last year I had yellow fat-like globules in the pond which I thought were snail eggs (the aquatic centre told me they were), and eagerly awaited hatching. But they didn't and just got bigger, multiplied like mad, and no one was able to identify them on the website either. Finally I found a scientist up north who studies algae who asked me to send him a sample, which I did. It was a type of blue-green algae similar to the poisonous type that can make dogs ill, but not the poisonous type. He also made some suggestions about getting the plant ratios right. What I had to do was get rid of them (there was quite a lot by that time), and as it is was all over pond and in the pondweed, it was quite a job. By the way, that year there was no blanketweed!

Thankfully this year there has been no return of the dreaded yellow globules, not a huge amount of blanket weed (preferable to globules as the critters like it) and right on cue, the water has cleared in early July as predicted.

Size wise, the globules started out as little round balls that would elongate and double back on itself around an air bubble. It would be quite rigid and fat getting up to the size of a 2p (but round). When it dried though it would disappear into nothing.

If you manage to take a picture of them, I can tell you if they bear any resemblence to my nightmare 'The Attack of the Yellow Globules'.
mralp2
Original Author
21 years ago
See pics, what is it??

Here is a link that might be useful: jelly globules
dean33
21 years ago
Thanks for the heads up i'll keep an eye out
chippewacat
21 years ago
AAAAHHHHHHHH GET RID OF THEM! THEY MULTIPLY!! THEY GET BIGGER!!!! THEY GET EVERYWHERE!!!!!
mralp2
Original Author
21 years ago
YES, I KNOW THEY ARE UGLY HAVE KILLED MY WATER SOLDIERS & THREATENING MY LILIES, BUT WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY, WOTS THEIR NAME IS IT LINKED TO 'WAR OF THE WORLDS',,DO THEY KILL HUMANS ARE THEY MARTIAN POND CREATURES.AGGHHHHHHH...SPLAT...I cant be alone, does anyone else have these invaders, tell dont be embarrassed..share,,

Here is a link that might be useful: jelly globules

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