Blue-Green Algae Found in Cape Coral Canal

Going beneath the surface to figure out what’s going on with our water.

“People are now seeing it in abundance in their canals,” said Calusa Waterkeeper, John Cassani.

Cassani posted the photo below from a Cape Coral canal near Savona Parkway.

“It’s sometimes hard to track these blooms because the wind moves them around. They could be here one day and gone the next,” he said.

On Wednesday, we found small, green and brownish clumps in the water, so we scooped some up to bring to FGCU Water School professor Doctor Barry Rosen.

This organism is called ‘Phormidium,’ it’s cyanobacteria, blue-green algae, that live on the bottom so we call it ‘benthic algae.’ It is there probably all year-round,” Rosen said.