I found a small round blob of 'jelly' floating in my tray of aquatic plants and decided to isolate it to get a closer look ... and I was amazed at how beautiful it looked up close.
I'm impressed with the detailed green edging - it gives an exquisite and unique texture to this blob, which has filaments inside. It's an algae called Nostoc (more commonly called blue-green algae), and can form colonies on the lake bottom, acting as recyclers and filters. They can metabolize nitrogen (i.e remove excess nitrogen from the system when it converts amino acids to energy) as well as being able to acquire carbon, so they are valuable to ecosystems and other organisms with which they may form associations.
To help visualize this tiny and impressive gem, I've included a photo with a millimeter scale below. One can hardly notice the textured edge this far away!
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