In March 2024, boaters at McGee Creek Reservoir in Atoka County, Oklahoma, spotted unexpected jelly-like masses hanging from submerged tree limbs. What looked like eerie, alien structures turned out to be quite the opposite—an ordinary part of a healthy aquatic ecosystem.

The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) clarified that these blobs are actually bryozoans, also known as moss animals. Bryozoans are small, colonial creatures—each group made up of tiny individuals called zooids. Their gelatinous appearance comes from a chitin shell that feels soft underwater and hardens when dry. These colonies can reproduce rapidly, forming large clusters in ideal conditions.