First, toilet paper algae, now crabs with furry claws. Talk about your exotic species.

Yesterday, we told you about toilet paper algae, also known as rock snot, coating riverbeds in Vermont and New Hampshire. It’s an invasive species originally found in northern Europe and China.

Today, news reports on the East Coast are warning about signs that the Chinese mitten crab may have established a breeding population in the Chesapeake and Delaware bays. Officials in Maine and other states issued warning to anglers to keep an eye out for the crabs, and are requesting that they capture and report any that they may find.

The crab has slowly made its way from Asia to Europe to the United States, possibly hitching rides in the ballast tanks of big ships.

The crab is named for its furry pincer claws. It actually spends much of its life in fresh water rivers, returning to coastal estuaries to spawn. It’s regarded as an aggressive invasive because it can take over habitat from native animals, foul commercial fishing nets and water intakes, and accelerate erosion by burrowing into shorelines and embankments.

Look here for the Baltimore Sun story about the crabs making themselves at home in the Chesapeake. And here is Maine’s warning and fact sheet on the crab.

A new invasive species has arrived in New England and could appear soon in a river near you.

But, based on the descriptions coming out of Vermont and New Hampshire, let’s hope not.

Agencies in those states are warning anglers about an invasive freshwater algae known as didymo or, more descriptively, rock snot. It’s been found in the northern reaches of the Connecticut River and in the White River, the first official reports of Didymosphenia geminata in the northeastern United States.

Didymo is a microscopic algae that blooms into thick, white or light brown mats that can cover several miles of river bottom. It’s also been called toilet paper algae because it can resemble strands of soaked toilet paper.

It is considered a threat to wild trout and other river inhabitants and there’s no known way to remove it once it shows up. State officials in Vermont are warning anglers that the algae can be spread on their clothes, waders and fishing gear from one stream to another.

It has not been detected in any Maine rivers, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

The descriptions from Vermont sound a lot like a sticky, toilet paper-like substance that covered the bottom of Lords Brook in Lyman on and off during the past year and a half. That growth, however, was identified as a fungus that’s native to the stream, according to the DEP. Officials believe the Lords Brook fungus bloomed because of nutrient-rich stormwater runoff from a nearby composting operation.

Look here and here for news stories about the Vermont invasion.

Two summer residents of Maine – the Bicknell’s thrush and the blueback herring – were in the news this week.

The thrush played a role in a new global warming report and in a shift in wind energy politics. The herring, meanwhile, surfaced in an historic river restoration agreement.

The stories are sure to affect Maine’s human residents, too. But here’s a bird’s-eye view, and a fish’s-eye view, of the week’s environmental news.

Maine Mountain Power is expected to file its new plan Tuesday for a wind farm on Black Nubble Mountain near the Sugarloaf USA ski resort.

And, in turn, the Natural Resources Council of Maine and other advocacy groups are planning to announce their support for the project at a news conference in Portland Tuesday morning.

The Black Nubble wind farm is the scaled-down version of a plan that was effectively rejected by the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission because of impacts on sub-alpine wildlife habitat and views from the Appalachian Trail. The company resuscitated the plan by eliminating 16 turbines on the Redington Pond Range, and sticking with 18 turbines on Black Nubble.

The change, which includes a conservation agreement for Redington, has won over many of the plan’s critics. NRCM had even suggested the scaled-down Black Nubble plan early on, but the company said then that building only 18 turbines would be a money-losing proposition. The numbers look better now.

Two other wind farms are already pending before the commission. Commissioners will hold a public hearing Aug. 7 in Lee on a plan for 38 turbines on Stetson Ridge in northern Washington County. A hearing is expected in October on another plan for 44 turbines on Kibby Mountain in northern Franklin County.

For more in formation on the proposals, and to keep track, watch the LURC Website.

Rock ’n’ roll might not save the planet, but it can still stir things up pretty well.

You might have a hard time getting through the day today without seeing or hearing any of Live Earth, the series of mega-concerts taking place around the world to focus attention on global warming. And, anyway, you’d be missing an unusual mix of music and a bit of history in the making.

Organizers are hoping that 2 billion people worldwide will watch the concerts, which will take place over 24 hours on all seven continents. There will be shows in Rio de Janeiro and Shanghai, and even in Antarctica, where a small band of British scientists will make its musical debut from a frozen research station near the South Pole.

The world has never felt so small.

And probably not since Elvis twitched and The Beatles invaded has a rock event generated so much hype and hand-wringing in this country.

There may be a breakthrough in the long-running dispute over reopening the Presumpscot River to sea-run fish.

Sappi Fine Paper, which owns the former S.D. Warren Paper Mill in Westbrook and six dams along the river, had been fighting against state the installation of fish passage at its dams, saying the expense would put jobs and the mill in jeopardy.

The company even went to the Supreme Court last year to argue, unsuccessfully, that states have no regulatory authority over hydroelectric dams. The company has since been facing a possible state order to install fish passage at Cumberland Mills Dam, the lowest dam on the river and one that wasn’t part of the Supreme Court case. Providing fish passage at Cumberland Mills would trigger deadlines to install fishways at its dams upriver.

Now it seems there is a deal that could resolve the dispute. Sappi sent out a press release this week to say it will hold a news conference Tuesday and make a “major announcement on the future of the Presumpscot River.” Among the other groups participating in the announcement is the Friends of the Presumpscot River, the group that has been leading the fight to restore fish runs.

Neither a Sappi spokeswoman nor the president of the Friends of the Presumpscot would discuss the announcement, except to say there is some agreement that involves fish passage at Cumberland Mills Dam. The news conference is schedule for 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Riverbank Park in Westbrook.

Live Earth, a global series of rock concerts intended to raise awareness about global warming, takes place this Saturday.

There will be eight concerts around the world, including in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Shanghai, China, and an anticipated audience of 2 billion people. The nearest stage is Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. (They’ll tell you it’s in New York, but don’t believe it.) The Police, Fall Out Boy, Kanye West and The Dave Matthews Band are among the headliners in the U.S. concert.

But you don’t have to drive to New Jersey to be part of the experience. There are some 7,000 smaller events planned around the world, including a number of gatherings in Maine where people can watch the concerts together.

One of the bigger Maine events is a free noon-to-midnight Live Earth showing at the Frontier Cafe, Cinema and Gallery in Brunswick that’s cosponsored by the Natural Resources Council of Maine. Another is a free barbecue and Live Earth showing from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Yarmouth Log Cabin on Main Street, hosted by a new student organization called GoVert. There also are house parties and small gatherings planned in Portland, Scarborough, Peaks Island and other communities.

The concerts will be broadcast on line at www.liveearth.msn.com. They also will be broadcast on cable television channels Bravo, Sundance, MSNBC, CNBC and Universal HD and on satellite radio. NBC will show Live Earth’s primetime U.S. performances from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.

For more information on local events and to RSVP, go here.

For more information on Live Earth, go here.