What's tiny, brown, lives underwater, and looks like a mushroom?
June 23, 2018 8:57 PM Subscribe
I went scuba diving at Clear Lake, Oregon today. I saw a ton of tiny, medium-brown unidentified biological-looking... *things* attached to some of the rocks. What were they?
Their silhouette was roughly the shape of a fungus growing on a tree -- think a minaturized oyster mushroom or turkey tail mushroom, but with (as far as I could tell) not particularly pronounced gills. They were attached to volcanic rock.
What were they? Eggs sacs of some kind? Actual underwater mushrooms? Some other life form? In case it's relevant, other stuff I saw in the lake included verdant fields of algae growing off the silty bottom (where the volcanic rock isn't exposed), schools of trout (the lake is stocked), plenty of caddisfly larvae in their cases, and cold-water springs feeding the lake from deep potholes. Water temperature was 41 F. We went as deep as 85', but I only remember seeing the brown unidentified objects in shallower areas -- say maybe between 15' to 30'.
Their silhouette was roughly the shape of a fungus growing on a tree -- think a minaturized oyster mushroom or turkey tail mushroom, but with (as far as I could tell) not particularly pronounced gills. They were attached to volcanic rock.
What were they? Eggs sacs of some kind? Actual underwater mushrooms? Some other life form? In case it's relevant, other stuff I saw in the lake included verdant fields of algae growing off the silty bottom (where the volcanic rock isn't exposed), schools of trout (the lake is stocked), plenty of caddisfly larvae in their cases, and cold-water springs feeding the lake from deep potholes. Water temperature was 41 F. We went as deep as 85', but I only remember seeing the brown unidentified objects in shallower areas -- say maybe between 15' to 30'.
Response by poster: Oh, and to clarify -- probably obvious from it being Clear Lake, but it was a freshwater dive.
Sassyfras -- they were soft. Didn't have hard shells of any kind, didn't look like crustaceans. Wish my new dive camera had arrived in time so I could have a picture to help!
posted by cnidaria at 9:02 PM on June 23, 2018
Sassyfras -- they were soft. Didn't have hard shells of any kind, didn't look like crustaceans. Wish my new dive camera had arrived in time so I could have a picture to help!
posted by cnidaria at 9:02 PM on June 23, 2018
Did they look like literal actual mushrooms? If so, maybe Psathyrella aquatica, though they're fairly rare and it sounds like these were quite abundant.
posted by halation at 9:28 PM on June 23, 2018
posted by halation at 9:28 PM on June 23, 2018
Response by poster: Ooh, halation -- I'd read about those awhile ago. Not the same thing. The P. aquatica, from the photo, is a gilly mushroom with a distinct stalk and these looked more kinda like polypores or shelf fungus. Even though I'm fairly sure that's not actually what they were, since I've read P. aquatica is the only known underwater mushroom and I doubt I just made a new scientific discovery. Also thought it would be maybe weird/unlikely for a mushroom to attach to volcanic rock?
posted by cnidaria at 9:31 PM on June 23, 2018
posted by cnidaria at 9:31 PM on June 23, 2018
In the Sierras in California if you see small brown things attached to rocks in streams it’s usually leeches- what is the size?
posted by q*ben at 10:36 PM on June 23, 2018
posted by q*ben at 10:36 PM on June 23, 2018
Could be some sort of egg case for insects or amphibians.
posted by Gneisskate at 11:30 PM on June 23, 2018
posted by Gneisskate at 11:30 PM on June 23, 2018
Response by poster: Definitely not leech-shaped - more of a fan/shelf-fungus-type shape. I'm leaning towards egg case. Hopefully someone can weigh in with some egg-case photos / an egg-case guide and help dial in which critter produced it.
posted by cnidaria at 12:33 AM on June 24, 2018
posted by cnidaria at 12:33 AM on June 24, 2018
Best answer: Bryozoa? Some of them look like a cross between a mushroom and a frog or toad. Also found in fresh water sometimes.
posted by Yorrick at 2:49 PM on June 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Yorrick at 2:49 PM on June 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Yorrick — it’s possible. Didn’t see any specific pics that matched the morphology I observed but I’ll have to keep looking. And bring a camera next time, apparently.
posted by cnidaria at 9:27 PM on June 25, 2018
posted by cnidaria at 9:27 PM on June 25, 2018
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posted by Sassyfras at 9:00 PM on June 23, 2018 [1 favorite]