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[Display omitted] • Composite liquid marbles coated filled with saline grew when floated on the distilled water. • Floating of the composite marbles filled with water floating on saline water resulted in decrease of their volume. • Composite liquid marbles filled with saline water and floating on saline water remained stable during 25 h. • The reported findings are attributed to the osmotic mass transfer. • Qualitative model of the mass transport across the osmotic membrane is suggested. We hypothesized that the reported evolution (growth) of composite water marbles filled with saline water and coated with lycopodium dispersed in a thin layer of silicone oil is due to the osmotic mass transfer. The hypothesis is supported by the semi-empirical model of osmotic growth of small liquid marbles floating on distilled water. Saline composite, silicone oil-coated marbles floating on distilled water grew with time; whereas, composite marbles filled with distilled water floating on aqueous solutions of NaCl lost mass with time and shrunk. However, composite liquid marbles filled with saline water and floating on aqueous solutions of NaCl remained stable during 25 h of the laboratory experiment. The reported findings are reasonably attributed to osmotic mass transport through the thin silicon layer filled with lycopodium particles coating the marbles, acting as an osmotic membrane. This is supported by the suggested model for the osmotic growth of marbles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]