m00ner

So, I was out in my backyard, walking around by the pond on our property, when I noticed some globby egg things on a stick in the water. I immediatley asked my former-science-teacher dad and he did not know, even though he knew what some of the larvae I found too, were...So then I went to some websites, and when I found one that had pictures of eggs, and noticed that there was a questionnaire if the eggs you want to identify were not spoken of above. I filled that out, and await a response from the webmaster. In the meantime, I figured some of you may know a little bit of pond biology, so I decided to ask you, and below are my answers to the questionnaire on the site.

1. Are the eggs in a ball/glob? Glob
2. Do the eggs float or sink? Sink, I believe...
3. Are the eggs attached or not and to what (plant, rock, sticks, each other?) Sticks that were in the pond
4. Are the eggs scattered or in a clump? A clump
5. Are the eggs all together or all over the place? Some clumps on differend parts of the sticks, some clumps on different sticks...
6. Are the eggs stuck to a solid surface (rock, leaf) or just loose plants? I've only seen them on loose plants/twigs floating around in the water
7. Do you have snails, turtles, goldfish, koi, other fish, frogs, toads, salamanders, etc.? I've only seen snails, but seen and heard frogs as well. It's a large marshy pond that gets to be about 3 feet deep in some parts...But I found the eggs in shallow water.
8. Do the eggs contain jelly? They're in a sort of jelly substance
9. Are the eggs in or out of the water? In the water.
10. What color are the eggs? They are a clearish white
11. What does the inside of the eggs look like (clear, eyes, no eyes, movement, etc.)? I can't tell, the insides are small.
12. Where do you live? In a not-very-populated area of a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota.

If you have any idea, please respond! Thanks!

wally

Check back in about 2 weeks and see if they are about to become tadpoles on the way to being frogs.

The Lone Ranger

It's a bit early for snails, some of which lay their eggs in jelly-like masses that look like the egg masses of amphibians. Almost certainly, what you have are amphibian eggs.

I'd guess either salamanders or frogs; most toads' egg masses are in long strings, rather than clumps.

If they're salamander eggs, they probably belong to some species in the genus Ambystoma, since you think they sink. (Most frog species' egg masses float.) Ambystoma laterale is a likely candidate. Ambystoma tigrinum is another possibility.

If they're frog eggs, Pseudacris crucifer is probably the most likely candidate. Pseudacris triseriata is another possibility. Most other frog species either lay their eggs in floating mats or breed later in the year.

Cheers,

Michael

m00ner

They seem too small to be frog eggs...The globs containing the eggs are about the diameter of a dime, and the eggs are about the size of a dot that one can make with a pencil.

punta

they sure sound like the snail eggs in my pond here in Canada, B.C..

The Lone Ranger

If the "dots" are that small, they pretty-much have to be snail eggs.

Cheers,

Michael