Why Is Zebra Mussels Better Than Fish

Today, what once was a scenic lake is covered in chest-high weeds. “ Boaters and fisherman enjoy going to Lake Bridgeport during the summer. But in the summer of 2013 the boat ramps were unusable so the number of residents going to the lake dropped. There are dead fish floating to the shoreline as well as many other wildlife animals. The lake tested positive for Zebra Mussel larva, which is shell like creatures that are very sharp and stick to boats, anchors and docks. The Mussels are very dangerous for the lake environment, but they also eat bacteria so they could help the lake water clear up. If no water is drained out of Lake Bridgeport then the residents of Eagle Mountain Lake and Lake Worth could possibly run out of drinking water.

As well as pollution, invasive species are damaging the lake ecosystems and food chains, made fragile by pollution and overfishing. The introduction of a new species throws off the balance of food chains. Some common invasive species include the sea lamprey, Asian carp, and zebra mussels, among many others. Zebra mussels have dramatically influenced and affected stable food chains by reducing the amount of zooplankton and phytoplankton. This presents a problem, as fish mostly feed on the drifters, and so they go hungry and die, leaving no food for larger fish to prey on. In addition to underwater disruption, it affects us as well, but only slightly. Plankton and algae especially are the most productive aquatic producers of oxygen, and by the decreasing population, we lose oxygen as well. The sea lamprey is also a problem, though it is not so influential to ecosystems as the zebra mussel.

     Colonization by zebra mussels has devastating ecological impacts on native bivalves (Mackie, 1991; Haag et al., 1993), frequently driving them to local extinction. Zebra mussels readily, perhaps preferentially, settle on native bivalves and eventually cover them over. They filter the water so efficiently that they can lower the amount of suspended food organisms below levels needed to sustain native unionids.

Some examples include the zebra mussel, sea lamprey, and Asian carp. The zebra mussel first came to the great lakes by traveling in the ballast water of a transoceanic vessel. Over the years, it has spread into the entire great lakes system. They are very dense with contaminants, which causes predators to stray away from them and not digest them. The zebra mussel has had many negative impacts on the ecosystem. A zebra mussel can attach themselves firmly to any solid object, which has caused water intake and discharge pipes to clog. Some other impacts include suppressing native mussels, over clarifying the water, and stripping water from various plankton that native fish eat. Sea lamprey are another invasive species in the great lakes. A sea lamprey is an eel like fish that sucks bodily fluids from other fish. They have traveled to the great lakes on their own by swimming up the Hudson River. They have contributed to the collapse of the whitefish and lake trout fisheries. Some prevention actions have been put in place and include chemical treatments of spawning

The increased plankton biomass and the highly stratified water mass spoiled hypoxic conditions, which covered approximately, double the area that would be expected in the summer. The effects of hypoxic conditions on the productive Louisiana fishery had a highly negative impact, as did it on the benthic community west of the delta.

This particular species of fish has an average size of 25.cm when fully matured. There has been reports that the Round Goby has been establishing its place in our Great Lakes and its population fully established themselves in 1998, now they are a part of our ecosystem in Lake Ontario and the Round Goby population has taken on the role of prey for many predator fish. The Goby’s main food sources are the following ; the zebra mussel, quagga mussel, miniatur fish, and fish eggs. The Round Goby is now “one of the most common fish in the lower Great

They have been known to grow very large, and can tolerate an extremely wide range of water quality and weather conditions. They consume large amounts of vegetation/plankton, negatively affecting the aquatic vegetation. In addition, they can increase the phosphorus levels, harming the water quality in the area of water.

Invasive species can destroy lakes in many different ways. One major type of invasive species that destroys lakes in Wisconsin is called a zebra mussel. Zebra mussels

Sea lampreys are a large problem in the Great Lakes. They entered the Great Lakes from the northern and western Atlantic in the 1800s through locks and canals. Sea lampreys are a problem because they prey on large fish, and are one of the major contributors to the decline of species of lake trout and whitefish. They are aggressive predators, and are very parasitic. Only one out of seven fish attacked by sea lampreys will survive.(glcf.org)

Zebra mussels may seem to be small and harmless creators, but these invasive species are taking over the ecosystem. First appearing in the Great Lakes, but over time has spread all across the U.S causing huge problems. Zebra mussels are negatively impacting lakes and rivers, as they are invasive species, and are killing may native species.

Not all infested lakes say they are. The DNR Believes that “ Female zebra mussels can produce 100,000 to 500,000 eggs per year.”(Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha)page 1). In other words, it only takes one female zebra mussel to completely infest a lake. This shows that it is important to not let one member of an invasive species get to an uninfested lake. This information then leads one to believe that all lakes need to post that they are infested.

In 2014, Excelsior Brewing Co. of Minnesota launched a beer with two unusual ingredients- Zebra Mussels and Eurasian Water Milfoil. The milfoil and the shells of the mussels in the beer don’t provide flavor, but are more for the novelty (Smith, 2014). But why would people ever pay money to drink beer with seaweed in it? To help get the Zebra Mussels and Eurasian Water Milfoil out of their lakes. These are two of the worst aquatic invasive species in Minnesota, and are a huge problem in lakes like Lake Minnetonka, where the milfoil and mussels were gathered for the novelty brew. If the issue with invasive species in Minnesota waters is not addressed, they could become a permanent part of our lakes, harming native species, as well as being very

Picture this: School just got out for the summer and you are dying to get outside and do something fun to relax. First things first, you must pack the essentials. Food (probably more than you need), a bathing suit and of course, a fishing pole. Now, you are ready for a trip to your favorite lake. After a few hours of driving, you finally reach your destination and can’t wait to get your boat out on the water, but guess what? Upon inspection from the local DWS officer, you are sent away due to the presence of Quagga mussels on your watercraft. These miniscule invasive species have completely ruined your trip. What could you have done differently? By becoming familiar with the rules and regulations, and being educated in their growth patterns, individuals can become active participants in the

They are more harmful because the mussels attach to rocks, swim rafts and ladders where swimmers can cut their feet on the mussel shells. They also can be harmful to other species beside humans, they can attach to food sources of other animals. Zebra mussels cause many other problems too, such as attaching to boat motors, reducing performance and efficiency and clog irrigation and other pipes.

Zebra Mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) a small filter feeding species. A single animal can filter one liter of water per day. A grown adult can range from one inch to two inches in size. One mussel has the ability to produce 100,000 eggs. Today, it is believed the great lakes are host to 10 trillion Zebra mussels. Zebra mussels feed mainly on plankton a very small aquatic creature that is native to the lakes’ and a primary food source of native fish. With the plankton population decreasing the water clarity has increased, the extra light reaching deeper into the lakes water allows for algae growth. Many of the algae blooms occurring in the lakes and rivers are very toxic to the native wildlife and even humans. Records have indicated that in 1985 vessels bound for the great lakes from freshwater locations in European, used fresh water to fill the ballast tanks. Once across the Ocean the vessels dumped the foreign water. Little thought was given regarding what was contained within the vessels ballast tanks.