JACKSON - An algae that can have devastating effects on fish has been found in several more Wyoming streams after it was found last month in a tributary to the Snake River.

Didymosphenia geminate, commonly called didymo or "rock snot," was found in the Nash Fork and Libby Creek on the Medicine Bow National Forest, and was confirmed as didymo earlier this week, according to an e-mail forwarded to the Casper Star-Tribune by a state Department of Environmental Quality official.

The algae was also found earlier this summer in Encampment Creek at Purgatory Gulch in southern Wyoming. Last month it was confirmed in Lake Creek, a tributary of the Snake River near Jackson. It has also been found in the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River near Lander.

Forest and Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials weren't available for comment on the discovery Wednesday.

The algae forms a kind of mat on the river bottom and can suffocate aquatic life that is important to fish. Although native to North America, its discovery in a creek can prove devastating. In New Zealand, where didymo is not native, fisheries managers have closed entire waterways and poisoned the streams to get rid of the algae.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, it is not possible to get rid of didymo once it has infected a waterway.

The algae is widely thought to be human borne and spread by water recreationists not cleaning boats, kayaks, whitewater rafts, waders and other supplies before entering new waterways.

Environmental reporter Whitney Royster can be reached at (307) 734-0260 or at royster@tribcsp.com.