Richard and Rosemary Miller, as members of VIP (*see below) discovered the plant pictured at bottom and described below along their side of Seymour and sent this note to SLA:
This is a plant/alga that was found in August covering much of the
waterfront area from Miller's to Wolf's Point on the south side of the
west leg of Seymour. It is new this year at least to us! It is
carpeting much of the area. It is spongy to the touch, and growths in
a circular clump. low to the bottom. Have others found this as well?
It seems to be spreading, but is not invasive according to the
experts. I sent a sample to the DEC (*see below) and received this [the following] reply.
Rosemary Miller
Rosemary,
Thanks for sending us a sample of your "mystery plant" from Seymour
Lake!
Angela Shambaugh, our algae expert here, examined your sample and has
identified it as a Tolypella species. Tolypella is a freshwater alga
related to Nitella, that we don't see as often in Vermont waters. We
are in the process of researching to find out more about this alga. I
should emphasize that we are not concerned at all about this species in
terms of Seymour's water quality. On the contrary, we suspect this may
be an uncommon or rare species in the state, so we're excited about
your
great find!
We're contacting some other algae experts at UVM and around the country
and I'll let you know as soon as we find out more.
Thanks for participating in the VIP program!
Best regards,
Leslie
Leslie J. Matthews, Ph.D. Environmental Scientist Water Quality Division Department of Environmental Conservation Vermont Agency of Natural Resources 103 South Main Street, 10 North Waterbury, VT 05671 802-241-3798 (office) 802-498-3051 (mobile)
VIP is for Vermont Invasive Patrollers. Several Seymour folks took a
summer training program last summer and have agreed to "patrol" a
section of the lake assigned to them, specifically looking for Eurasion
milfoil and zebra mussels. We do this at least 2 times during the
summer. We document current plant growth in our areas, and can report
other changes and concerns to the Vermont Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC).
"The goal of the Vermont Invasive Patrollers (VIPs) program is to
encourage and support individuals who are committed to early detection
of new aquatic invasive species (AIS) infestations in Vermont.