Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[mastercaster]

Pulled the boats up on shore today from the cabin lake since i won't be back up there for the next ten days. I usually see the hard dark "things" stuck to the bottom of the boats but it's the first time I've seen these jelly globules filled with what appears to be eggs about the size of a grain of sand on the bottom of the boats. I know they aren't frog eggs this late in the year...besides, I've never seen frogs on the lake. Anyone have an idea what they may be.




Also, in the past I've come across fresh water clams in rivers on many occasions but I've never seen them in lakes before! This summer is the first time I've noticed them in our lake. I wonder if they've been there all the time or.... There's a family of otters on the lake so they're probably pretty happy they are there as a food source.




Even with this alienation taking place, not to mention a bloom coming on due to the hot weather, the chironomid fishing continues.....love those bombers this time of year!

[troutbreath]

Life form from another Planet. Hope you didn't hurt or kill any.

[Funeral Of Hearts]

Some sort of snail eggs maybe?

[mastercaster]

I've never seen snails in the lake which is extremely unusual for a shallow lake.  If there are any in there, the fish don't use them as a food source.  I've never even once throat sampled any in the fish and although I don't kill a lot of fish I've never found them in the stomach either.  The fish tend to feed on chironomids and blood worms all summer long even when the surface temp gets up to 70 degrees.  I ate one this week and the table quality is still excellent!

WHAT are those eggs?  Any chance they're from the clams?

[clownfish]

I'm fairly certain that they are snails eggs, they are very much like the ones I've seen in my aquariums in the past, and in lakes where I know that snails can be found. Snails aren't usually a high visibility creature, it isn't a good survival trait. As far as the clams go, their sperm, and I'm pretty sure their eggs, as well as the successful offspring are all free swimming, untill the growing shell becomes too heavy for the developing clam to keep it in the water column instead of in the sand/mud of the bottom. Mind if I ask what lake?

[mastercaster]

Link Lake.....it's about 35 minutes out of Princeton

[mastercaster]

Brian Chan just got back to me with the answer.  He reckons they're leech egg clusters which is understandable because I've seen far more leeches in the lake than ever before in the area of our dock.  Still wondering what the dark oval like creatures with the point on each end are....

[clownfish]

I googled "leech reproduction" and got plenty of sites listed, picked the top one http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/waterres/Bugs/Leeches.htm and it looks like that's what they are, leech eggs. Learned something new, again. I guess if the other things by the eggs were snails then you wouldn't be wondering what they are. Did they look sort of leathery with a low profile to the surface? I think I've seen something like them before, don't know what they are, but they seem to be a fairly common freshwater critter, found them, or something like, on the bottom of a couple of hulls that spent a fair amount of time in the water in Horse Lake (100 Mile). They stick on really well, whatever they are, takes a bit of scrubbing to remove them. If you find out what they are, I would like to know, just to (temporarily) stop the curiosity itch.

Thanks

[mastercaster]

I read through that info...I was wondering why I was seeing dead adult leeches in the area where my boats were.  Now I know...they die after they've reproduced a couple of times.

You're right about those other little creatures...they are really tough to get off the bottom of the boat.  I don't even bother to try any more when I pull the boats on shore and flip them over.  I figure nobody knows they're there when the boats are in the drink. And the fish don't seem to care either. LOL