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Great Lakes Center, SAMC 319
SUNY Buffalo State
1300 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo, NY 14222
wnyprism@buffalostate.edu
(716) 878.4708
Starry stonewort looks like a rooted plant, but is actually an algae related to the native Chara. It can form dense mats on the lake bottom, and has long, uneven-length, gelatinous branches that look angular at each joint. It may also have one cream colored bulb at the base of each branch cluster.
Tench is a member of the carp family. They have dark olive to pale golden coloring, a white-bronze belly, bright red-orange eyes and a small barbel at the corners of the mouth. The fins are dark in color, rounded and lack spines. Tench have a deep, but thin body and grow up to 18 inches long.
Variable-leaf watermilfoil is a submerged perennial that looks like many native plants, including native watermilfoil species. It has 4-6 feathery leaves whorled around the stem, but some leaves can be alternate. Its leaves are divided into 7-14 pairs of leaflets, the dense leaf arrangement gives this plant a bottle brush appearance. Stems are thick and reddish-brown. In mid to late summer, blade-like, serrated leaves with small, reddish pink flowers form an erect spike that emerges from the water.
Water chestnut is a fast-growing, floating annual that can grow to 16 ft. The most distinctive trait of this plant is its thorny nutlets.
Water hyacinth is a free-floating, perennial, aquatic plant. In climates where it is unable to survive the winter, water hyacinth will grow as an annual. Its leaves are round, curved, glossy bright green and float above the water’s surface on bulbous stalks.
Water lettuce is an often free-floating aquatic plant. It forms thick mats that block sunlight and slow or prevent the growth of native aquatic plants.
Waterwheel is an herbaceous carnivorous, aquatic plant that captures small, aquatic invertebrates using clamshell-type traps, similar to the venus flytrap. It floats just below the water's surface and has stems 2-8 inches long, with whorls of 5-9 leaves. Waterwheel rarely flowers, but when it does, the small, greenish-white flowers emerge from the water, while the fruit capsules are held underwater.
Yellow floating heart is an herbaceous aquatic plant that's found rooted in the mud of still bodies of water or in water gardens. More data on this species is needed, so please report it if you see it!
Zebra mussels are filter-feeding, freshwater, bivalve mollusks. Zebra mussels are small, ¼” to 1 ½” long, and D-shaped with light and dark brown stripes.
Report an Invasive Species
wnyprism@buffalostate.edu
(716) 878.4708