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Common Carolina Algae Types
Prominent Algae in the Carolina's
1. Blue-Green Algae / Cyanobacteria: Members of the genera Microcystis (small celled alga) and Anabaena (Alga that floats up) are commonly associated with blooms of planktonic blue-green algae (also called cyanobacteria. From a distance, blooms of planktonic cyanobacteria give the water a uniform blue-green to lime-green coloration. On closer inspection, however, the water will appear filled with small flakes of darker blue - or lime-green material. and in sheltered areas those small flakes will aggregate into extensive surface scums, sometimes covering an entire cove with a surface layer up to 3 inches thick.
2. Green Algae: Scenedesmus Meyen: Blooms of green algae cause ponds to appear bright green to olive-green. The color is generally dispersed uniformly and surface films or scums are rare. Blooms are most common in late spring to early summer and are associated with nutrient enrichment, usually nitrate and phosphate. Green algal blooms are often favored for use as fish food.
3. Filamentous and Colonial Algae: Lyngbya Agardh: Musty black mat algae. Typically the mats are uniformly black in the spring, but become mottled with patches of brown, black, green, and white filaments in later summer and fall. Trailing from the surface mats are long "streamers" which may hang several feet into the water column and are physiologically the most active portion of the mat. Mats are comprised of highly entangled filaments with the texture and appearance of long tangled strands of coarse human hair. They have a strong distinctive musty or earthy odor. Infestations are associated with elevated calcuim levels and may also be related to increased nutrient loads, primarily phosphates.
4. Planktonic Algae: Euglenoid Algae, Euglena -- The single-celled organisms classified within the genus Euglena (The good eyeball algae) are worldwide in distribution and belong ot more than 100 species. These species of Euglena that cause nuisance blooms do so in environments enriched with organic material, usually animal wastes. Blooms take the form of a surface scum or film that may vary in color from lime- or yellow - green to blood red. Surface films typically vary in magnitude throughout the day, becoming particularly noticeable in the sheltered areas during the early morning hours and diminishing as the sun's intensity increases. Euglena blooms are particularly common in farm and aquaculture ponds that receive a high influx of organic material. Blooms occur thoughout the year, but peak in the warmer months of the year.
5. Pithophora: "Green Cotton-ball Alga" - Pithophora forms major surface infestations, often covering entire coves and shallow ponds. The alga consists of aggregated, floating green masses which vary in diameter from the size of a quarter to that of dinner plate. Cotton-like masses vary in color from dark green to lime green, and older regions, at the base of the mass, may be encrusted with iron deposits to give a rust or black coloration. The cotton-like masses are coarse to the touch and lack the slimy texture of many other filamentous algae. Each cottony mass is easily picked up and is difficult to tear apart. Infestations are most common in the warmer months of the year, but in heaily infested ponds they persist year round. Infestations are associated with hard-waters, subject to nitrogen and phosphorous enrichment.
6. Oedogonium - "Entangled Green Filaments with Microscopic Growth - Rings" - This alga grows attached to substrates, usually on submerged logs, branches, leaves, aquatic animals or other algae. In addition, the algae attaches to rocks or the walls of concrete. The algae is comprised of unbranched filaments that collectively impart a dark-green to yellow-green color. This algae is most readily confused with Spirogyra however, the two genre are distinquished by touch. Spriogyra is slimy, and its filaments readily slide from one's hand where as Oedogonium will feel slimy when rubbed, but it's filaments adhere to the hand. Oedogonium grows throughout the year in freshwater of all pH values.
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