Its nickname says it all
Posted Aug 14, 2011 03:47:20 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER – It’s nickname says it all. Rock Snot is a slimy, yellow-brown freshwater algae that’s spreading like a bad cold across North American and to other countries.
It’s native to a small area on Vancouver Island, but Matthais Herborg with B-C’s Environment Ministry, says it suddenly started to spread about 20-years ago. He says the shag-carpet like algae can now be found in Alberta, Quebec, New Brunswick and as far away as Iceland and New Zealand. Herborg says it’s become a global invasive species, and looks especially bad when it starts drying up on the banks of pristine rivers.
When it dries it looks like toilet paper and people assume there’s a sewage problem in the river. Experts agree the most common cause of the spread is on the felt-soled hip waders of recreational fishermen.
