by Alexander Semenov

photographed by Morton Jonuschat (mjonuschat) (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Photographer: Christian Skauge

If you’ve ever wondered what a swimming hydroid looks like...here ya go😆 I love my little alien boy!!

This moss grows about 2 inches tall and sometimes 3 inches, which is fairly tall for a bryophyte. As you may know, the reason why bryophytes usually stay so small and manageable is for water transport; however, in uncommon cases, some bryophytes have a special pseudo-xylem cell sleeve that aids in water transport. In the center of this plant is a column of specialized cells that form large quantities of plasmodesmata networks to adjacent cells, these cells are fairly condensed into the center to allow for something that follows the status quo of what capillary action is,they also require for the cells to be as thoroughly inundated and turgid with water as possible upon maturity; they do this, not by strictly vacuole adaptation but, by removing the vast majority of protoplasm from the cells under scrutiny. This psuedo-xylem has been given an appropriate name “hydroids” because of the general way water is pulled/pumped.

dark plant shaped thing!

Made an interesting discovery today!! Seemingly overnight, this little alien-looking dude showed up on the front wall of my saltwater aquarium. Whenever I come across any unfamiliar organisms I HAVE to identify them so, after a bunch of research I’ve learned that he’s a hydroid (very similar to a jellyfish) in the medusa stage. Earlier in life jellyfish and hydroids exist in a sessile polyp stage, and some hydroids are sessile for their entire lives. Since all of the residents of my tank are hard-shelled organisms and/or have exoskeletons, and so long as we don’t end up with a large bloom of hydroids, there shouldn’t be any issues. Welcome to the tank, little dude!!