Lake balls

Lake Balls are known by various names such as Cladophora Balls and Moss Balls, is a species of fibrous green algae Aegagropila linnaei that when they grow takes the shape of a ball 12 to 30 cm in diameter, depending on where they grow.

Lake balls are rare and are known to occur only in Iceland, Scotland, and Japan.

Most of them are in Lake Akan in Japan and Lake Myvatn in Iceland, and more recently in Dee Why Beach, in Sydney.

In Japan, marimo balls are protected and prized and have been an official natural treasure since the 1920s.

In Lake Myvatn (Iceland), lake balls are slowly disappearing, and their disappearance is attributed to pollution caused by mining ventures.