- Varied and unpredictable ecological impacts.
- Changes to nutrient cycles, filtering out of phytoplankton, reduction of zooplankton.
- Increased water clarity and plant growth around lake margins.
- Attach to native mussel species that can cause their local extinction.
- Changes to fish populations can also occur through colonisation of spawning grounds, change of habitat and food sources.
- Has cost the US millions of dollars.
- Blocks pipes at water works and hydro electric schemes.
- Attaches to the hulls of boats, blocks boat engines.
- Cutting and snagging of fishing lines and nets.
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- Introduced attached to hulls of boats or in bilge water.
- Natural dispersal in connected waterbodies through the production of millions of microscopic larvae (veligers). These drift in water currents and settle on hard surfaces.
- Hull fouling, bilge water and movement of colonised material from an infested site to new waterbodies.
- Deliberate introduction to non impacted sites because of perception that zebra mussels can remove pollution.
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Prevention
Do not introduce into the wild. Take measures to ensure there is not transport of bilgewater between waterbodies and inspect boat hulls, trailers, outboard engines, I/O drive legs, water intakes, exhausts and trailers for infestation before moving between waterbodies.
Physical Control
None effective in the wild
Chemical Control
Non effective in the wild
Biological Control
The Global Invasive Species Database states that there are numerous control methods available to remove mussels from substrates or kill them within infested water intakes or on fouled man-made substrates; however none of these methods is useful for control in the wild. Controls include mechanical removal (scraping, mechanical scrubbers in pipes), chemical (chlorine, bromine, deoxygenation), thermal, UV light, electric current, and antifouling paints (containing zinc or copper, or slick surfaces such as epoxy that make removal of mussels easier). Natural predators include diving ducks, crayfish, muskrats, and fishes with grinding teeth (carp, freshwater drum, pumpkinseed, round goby, bream, roach), eel, sturgeon, flounder.
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