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Didymosphenia geminata (Lyngb.) M. Schmidt (ITIS)
Gomphonema geminata (Lyngb.) C. Agardh (ITIS)
Didymo, Rock snot
Northern Europe and northern North America (Spaulding and Elwell 2007)
Was present in Canada in the late 1800s, but did not begin to cause problems until the early 1990s. It was first discovered east of the Mississippi River in 2005 in Tennessee. (Bergey et al. 2009; Spaulding and Elwell 2007)
Exact pathway unknown, but it spreads easily through contaminated fishing gear, particularly felt-soled waders (Kilroy and Unwin 2011)
Alters stream ecology by forming dense algal blooms that can cover up to 100 percent of stream bottoms (Spaulding and Elwell 2007)
Images
Videos
Google. YouTube; Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks.
Selected Resources
The section below contains highly relevant resources for this species, organized by source. Or, to display all related content view all resources for Didymo.
Council or Task Force
Alberta Invasive Species Council (Canada).
See also: Fact Sheets for more information about individual invasive species, including those listed as "Prohibited Noxious" and "Noxious" under the Alberta Weed Control Act
Partnership
Federal Government
DOC. NOAA. Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory; DOI. USGS. Wetland and Aquatic Research Center.
International Government
State and Local Government
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. Office of Water Resources.
See also: Aquatic Invasive Plants for species of concern
New York Department of Environmental Conservation.
Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
See also: Invasive Plant Fact Sheets for plant species (trees, shrubs, vines, herbs and aquatic plants) that have impacted the state's natural lands
Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Academic
Citations
- Bergey, E.A., J.T. Cooper, and C.R. Tackett. 2009. Occurrence of the invasive diatom Didymosphenia geminata in southeast Oklahoma. Publications of the Oklahoma Biological Survey, 2nd Series 9:13-15.
Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Didymosphenia geminata. [Accessed Sep 10, 2014].
Kilroy, C. and M. Unwin. 2011. The arrival and spread of the bloom-forming, freshwater diatom, Didymosphenia geminata, in New Zealand. Aquatic Invasions 6(3):249-262.
Spaulding, S.A. and L. Elwell. 2007. Increase in nuisance blooms and geographic expansion of the freshwater diatom Didymosphenia geminata (PDF | 1.08 MB) (Open-File Report 2007-1425) Reston, Va.: U.S. Geological Survey.