Between 1909 and 1911, the Belfast naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger led an exhaustive biological survey of the island, the Clare Island Survey, which was unprecedented at the time and served as a template for future studies.
Three species of freshwater red algae have been recorded from Clare Island: Batrachospermum atrum (Hudson) Harvey, B. turfosum Bory and Lemanea fucina Bory [REF].