I found this very interesting, so thought I would share. Those odd, white things in the water were more than 1/8 inch across, and had a similar texture to cotton balls. One of our local Botanists said that they were "air roots" from the adjacent Ludwigia decurrens plants. They were formed of aerenchyma tissue, which facilitates gas transport. They usually emerge to get additional air in anaerobic situations. Additional info is available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerenchyma.

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