Fishermen pulled out an amazing orange bag that glowed from the inside (4 photos)
A colony of amazing creatures that look like an orange bag has settled under a floating island near the Netherlands. The fishermen who pulled them out of the sea saw an object about a meter in size that was glowing in the water. 
The photos from the scene show that the fishermen are not afraid of it at all. The Dutch portal HLN published a video with explanations from environmental scientist Martin Peters about the emergency off the coast of the country. 
The article wrote that the amazing catch was reported on the Instagram page of "Urban ecologists Utrecht". The event occurred on October 22 near Leidsche Rijn, a district of the city of Utrecht, the article states. They note that in fact this is not a single specimen of some animal, but a whole colony of small organisms - "aquatic freshwater moss". It is usually found in America and is called "blob" (that is, drops).
"Several colonies can grow together, forming floating pockets up to two meters in diameter," the ecologists wrote. 
Ecologist Anne Nijs, quoted by the publication, explained that such formations are not usually found in the Netherlands and are "exotic" for this region. The fishermen examined the object and then placed it under water, since it does not cause any harm. Until 1883, "freshwater water moss" was seen only in US waters, and after 1990 it appeared in Germany, France, Belgium and now in the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, Martin Peters specified that the microscopic creatures, which are also called Bryozoa, join together and form an exoskeleton that helps them keep their shape. The exoskeleton attaches to rocks, branches, corals, ropes. In fact, it is not hard, but in the water it looks like fluff, the ecologist noted. He also assured that these animals do no harm, but there is one unpleasant thing - when they die, an unpleasant smell appears. 
