{"id":2637,"date":"2024-07-01T20:06:40","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T20:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onlinenews92.com\/?p=2637"},"modified":"2024-07-01T20:06:40","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T20:06:40","slug":"uncovering-the-mysteries-of-the-lake-in-oklahoma-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onlinenews92.com\/?p=2637","title":{"rendered":"Uncovering the Mysteries of the Lake in Oklahoma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Residents of Oklahoma found a mysterious hard sac-like \u2018egg\u2019 hanging from the tree roots at the lake, but scientists are now calming the locals, who immediately jumped to conclusions of alien proportions, by explaining that it\u2019s an ancient creature<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"These<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These creatures have found the right space and environment, so its likely they\u2019ll be around a lot this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Locals in Oklahoma discovered large, jelly-like sacs with a hard exterior hanging from tree roots; they immediately thought the answer was extraterrestrial. Or at least not good news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But scientists, reassuring the public, have said that the locals in the area got a rare treat \u2013 the glimpse of the reproductive system of an ancient animal that\u2019s been around since before the dinosaurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immediately, locals put it up online, and spectators began commenting on the extraterrestrial-looking eggs. But scientists say that the creatures were simple bryozoans. They\u2019ve been around for hundreds of millions of years, before the first dinosaurs roamed the planet. The animals may actually be good news for the lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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These bizarre creatures are actually hundreds of tiny bryozoans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"egg<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Officials reassured the public that the animals are absolutely supposed to be there <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryozoans clone themselves into large masses to filter tiny particles out of the water for food, cleaning up the lake. The critters normally reside in ponds and lakes. This time, it was found in McGee Creek Reservoir, located on the southwest edge of the Ouachita Mountain Range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryozoan clumps aren\u2019t an egg or just one animal at all. They form this hard shell as they are hundreds of creatures banded together. The pods, known as zooids, are each a fraction of a millimeter long. They lack any respiratory or circulatory systems, but their central nerve ganglion allows the animal to respond to stimuli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"floating<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These pods are hanging from tree roots, and actually help clean the lake<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tiny invertebrates possess both male and female reproductive organs, allowing them to self-clone and spread through clumps of cells on the organism known as statoblasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each statoblast can reproduce asexually. They do this by breaking off from a colony, allowing the animal to reproduce rapidly if the space and the weather are suitable. The animals eat phytoplankton and bacteria lurking in water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Join the Mirror\u2019s SMS news service to get the biggest breaking stories delivered straight to your phone. Click here to subscribe.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fossil records suggest they may have evolved from an ancient marine worm. Their grandparents, ancient bryozoans, date back as far as 470 million years. For perspective, dinosaurs came around 245 million years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) shared the photos on social media. \u201cWhat is that??? If you\u2019re out boating somewhere like McGee Creek Reservoir you may notice these strange jelly-like balls hanging from submerged tree limbs,\u201d begins the post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese are Bryozoans, and they\u2019ll likely show up in large numbers this summer. Don\u2019t be alarmed these microorganisms are native and are of no danger to you or wildlife. In fact, they are an indicator of good environmental quality and clear water!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Residents of Oklahoma found a mysterious hard sac-like \u2018egg\u2019 hanging from the tree roots at the lake, but scientists are now calming the locals, who immediately jumped… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinenews92.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinenews92.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinenews92.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinenews92.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinenews92.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2637"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/onlinenews92.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2638,"href":"https:\/\/onlinenews92.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2637\/revisions\/2638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinenews92.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinenews92.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinenews92.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}