Aquatic plants can be beneficial or detrimental to a waterbody, depending on if they are native or invasive.
There are two ways to submit a report:
- If you’re unsure of what the plant may be, follow the directions below to email us your photos.
- If you know what the plant is, please submit an observation on iNaturalist as it will be automatically added to our Aquatic Invasive Species in Massachusetts project. You will need to create an account to submit an observation.
- Direction on how to sign up for an account can be found on the How to Sign Up for an iNaturalist Account tutorial page on the iNaturalist website.
- Directions on how to submit an observation can be found on the How to Make an Observation tutorial page on the iNaturalist website.
Steps on how to take a good photo for submission
- Take your photo on a white or light solid color background
- Only include 1-2 plant stems with leaves easily visible
- Include something to show the scale, like your hand
Extra tips
- Do not zoom in as blurry photos are hard to ID
- If you’re photographing at the water, ensure there is minimal glare
- If you have polarized sunglasses, carefully put your phone camera up to the inside of your sunglasses lens to take a polarized photo of the water
What to submit
- 2 to 3 clear photos, more is fine but please limit them to 1 email
- Waterbody name and town
- General location in waterbody where plant was found and approximation of size of plant area
Where
Send your photo submissions to dcr.lakesandponds@mass.gov
If you believe you have found an invasive aquatic plant, please refer to our Aquatic Invasive Species Guide.