These are aestivating land snails that have just woken up.
Land snails often cover themselves with a secretion that dries on contact with the air. Some species of land snail can spend three years in that cocoon.
Ed Buchan, environmental coordinator at the Raleigh Public Utilities Department, said staff biologists have confirmed that the "creature" is actually a colony of tubifex worms. The colonies attach themselves to roots that gradually work themselves into weak points in the pipes.
"They seem to respond to the light from the camera," Buchan said. "That light is pretty hot."
The worms naturally occur in sewage and pond sediment and are actually sold both live and dried as fish food in pet stores.
I looks like a land snail that has been caught in a crack. Somehow, it's produced so much slime trying to get out that it's gumming up all over it.
ReplyDeleteThese are aestivating land snails that have just woken up.
ReplyDeleteLand snails often cover themselves with a secretion that dries on contact with the air. Some species of land snail can spend three years in that cocoon.
No idea but whatever it is, it's DISGUSTING!
ReplyDeleteLiz
Maybe bryozoan?
ReplyDeleteI would be surprised to find three in one spot, though.
Ed Buchan, environmental coordinator at the Raleigh Public Utilities Department, said staff biologists have confirmed that the "creature" is actually a colony of tubifex worms. The colonies attach themselves to roots that gradually work themselves into weak points in the pipes.
ReplyDelete"They seem to respond to the light from the camera," Buchan said. "That light is pretty hot."
The worms naturally occur in sewage and pond sediment and are actually sold both live and dried as fish food in pet stores.