Gorgeous Water Garden

What a gorgeous sight to behold today on my kayak wanderings - a natural water garden.

These yellow flowers belong to a bladderwort, a carnivorous aquatic plant that feeds on tiny zooplankton in our lake. It's the fastest plant in the world at catching prey, described as lightning fast. Quite spectacular. Its prey ranges in size from single-celled to mosquito larvae size

You might be able to see some of the trigger hairs that are activated by prey swimming nearby, in this close up photo I took. The second version has been enhanced and annotated to show where to look for the trigger hairs. And yes, up close it looks a bit like an Anjou pear.

              

The excellent text from the second edition of Through the Looking Glass: A Field Guide to Aquatic Plants explains that some microorganisms can live and multiply within the trap. If the prey is large, it will be digested little by little. "As the negative pressure of the trap is re-established, more of the prey is taken in and digested. This continues until the worm or larva is completely consumed."