The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is warning anglers to take steps not to spread “rock snot,” a microorganism. It also announced that Diba Khan-Bureau, Ph.D., a professor at Three Rivers Community College, and Mike Beauchene, a supervising fisheries biologist with the Inland Fisheries Division of DEEP have discovered new species of microscopic algae in Connecticut.
With many anglers getting ready for opening day of trout season on Saturday, April 9, DEEP reminds everyone who frequents the West Branch of the Farmington River, especially through the towns of Hartland to Canton, to be extra vigilant about checking, cleaning, and/or drying any items that have come into contact with the river water or the river bottom.
Rock snot, shown here, is currently “blooming,” meaning growing rapidly, in the West Branch of the Farmington River in Barkhamsted. Anyone who has contact with the river there needs to help prevent spreading rock snot to other waters by practicing “Check, Clean, Dry.” (Submitted photo)
Didymo is currently “blooming” in Connecticut, creating thick mats, especially in Riverton. This algae can easily be spread from water to water as it can remain alive for long periods of time, even when only slightly moist. Cleaning your equipment is critically important if you plan to move to other waters within a few hours or the same day after being in the West Branch of the Farmington River.
DEEP reminds everyone about the potential impacts of the inadvertent transport of species from one water body to another. Once introduced it is often very difficult, if not impossible, to eradicate.
Before leaving a water body, practice the “Clean, Drain, Dry” technique on anything that had contact with the water or the bottom, including boats and fishing gear such as waders.
“Rock snot” first made headlines when pristine New Zealand trout streams became overrun with thick sticky mats of a diatom, Didimosphenia geminata aka Didymo for short. These mats comprise multiple individual stalks, each supporting one or more coke-bottle-shaped cells. Didymo is not native to New Zealand, so it was hypothesized that it was transported there inadvertently by a fisherman’s boots or fishing equipment. Its incredible growth sparked concern worldwide about Didymo and possible negative consequences to trout waters around the globe.
Didymo was first reported in Connecticut in March 2011 when an angler reported seeing what appeared to be a small tuft of it in the West Branch of the Farmington River in Barkhamsted. Connecticut Didymo has not manifested itself into the massive mats first documented in New Zealand. However, last July, many anglers reported thick clumps of “rock snot” throughout the river about 1.5 miles up and downstream of the famed “Church Pool” on the West Branch of the Farmington River.
After the microorganism was found in Connecticut, Khan-Bureau monitored the situation closely and observed the diatom she was studying was different from traditional descriptions of D. geminata. Leading diatom experts worldwide agreed this was a new species of Didymo not previously known to science. The new species was named Didymosophenia hullii (Khan-Bureau sp. nov.) in honor of the late David Hull M.D., director of transplant surgery at Hartford Hospital.
In a recently published article in the European Journal of Phycology (the study of algae), Khan-Bureau and Beauchene revealed the new species to the world and also revealed a species new to Connecticut, Cymbella janischii. They found it while researching Didymo. Both microorganisms belong to the notorious group of microscopic algae collectively termed “Rock Snot.” C. janischii is a species endemic to the Pacific Northwest and previously had not been found on the eastern seaboard with one exception in New York.
Information on nuisance aquatic organisms and invasive species, along with detailed instructions for “Clean, Drain, Dry” can be found at www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2696&q=322690&deepNav_GID=1630
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