Here on some notes on algal (and cyanobacterial ) blooms: (from EPA_R3_Field-ID-Algae-Handout-8.10.2016.pdf )
All the following come in large collections in water, not individual specimens
Green Algae:
Chara: whorled branches, smell of garlic, can pick it up easily.
Hydrodictyon: if you scoop it up in your hand, it won't immediately slide through your fingers. If you gently tease it apart you can see a hexagonal, net-like structure
Cladophora: does not slip through fingers when picked up. Can have minute feathery appearance, or if you squeeze the water out can look like cotton (these are two different kinds).
Spirogyra: long, slimy strands that want to slip through your fingers and don't break easily
Rhizoclonium and Oedogonium: want to slip through fingers, yellow green, fragile, attached to rocks. Dried algae look like paper on rocks.
Blue green algae:
Blue green (or dark green, brown, red) with foot often attached to grey mat. Not rigid, slimy. Tufted or a mat.
Some vascular plants that may be in the same environments
Elodea
Hydrilla
Water Stargrass
Water milfoil (looks a lot like Chara)
Wild celery
Sago pondweed
Curly pondweed
