Posted on 03/09/2021 9:02:41 PM PST by sockmonkey
Zebra mussels, those invaders that have wreaked havoc on the Great Lakes, have found a new way to further their damaging spread: pet shops.
A citizen's report of an invasive zebra mussel found in an aquarium moss package from a Seattle pet store prompted a U.S. Geological Survey expert on invasive aquatic species to trigger nationwide alerts. That has led to the discovery of the destructive shellfish in pet stores in at least 21 states, from Alaska to Florida and including Michigan.
A Seattle pet shop employee on Feb. 25 reported finding an invasive zebra mussel in an ornamental aquarium moss ball. Moss balls are ornamental plants imported from the Ukraine that are often added to aquariums.
USGS fisheries biologist Wesley Daniel learned about the finding March 2. Daniel coordinates the agency's Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, which tracks sightings of about 1,270 nonnative aquatic plants and animals nationwide, including zebra mussels.
Daniel immediately notified the aquatic invasive species coordinator for Washington state and contacted invasive species managers at the USGS and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He then visited a pet store in Gainesville, Florida, and found a zebra mussel in a moss ball there. At that point, he and other experts realized the issue was extensive. Zebra mussels have since been found in moss balls in Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, Washington and Wyoming.
"The issue is that somebody who purchased the moss ball and then disposed of them could end up introducing zebra mussels into an environment where they weren't present before," he said. "We've been working with many agencies on boat inspections and gear inspections, but this was not a pathway we'd been aware of until now."
Almost three decades after being discovered in Lake St. Clair, likely arriving in the ballast water of freighters that traveled through eastern Europe, zebra and closely related quagga mussels can now be abundantly found in each of the Great Lakes and most major river systems in the eastern U.S. Though only about the size of a dime, the mussels reproduce quickly, eat voraciously and clump together, clinging to almost anything in the water.
They have all but crowded out native clam species and have disrupted the base of the aquatic food chain—vacuuming up the tiniest plants and animals upon which aquatic insects and small fish feed. Those, in turn, are eaten by the large game fish that create a multibillion-dollar fishing tourism industry in Michigan. Zebra and quagga mussels also cost industries, businesses and communities $5 billion between 1993 and 1999 by clogging water intake pipes, according to congressional research, with $3.1 billion of that cost coming from the power industry alone.
Federal agencies, states, and the pet store industry are working together to remove the moss balls from pet store shelves nationwide. They have also drawn up instructions for people who bought the moss balls or have them in aquariums to carefully decontaminate them, destroying any zebra mussels and larvae they contain using one of these methods: freezing them for at least 24 hours, placing them in boiling water for at least 1 minute, placing them in diluted chlorine bleach, or submerging them in undiluted white vinegar for at least 20 minutes. The decontamination instructions were developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the USGS and representatives of the pet industry.
"I think this was a great test of the rapid-response network that we have been building," Daniel said. "In two days, we had a coordinated state, federal and industry response."
The USGS is also studying potential methods to help control zebra mussels that are already established in the environment, such as low-dose copper applications, carbon dioxide and microparticle delivery of toxicants.
To report a suspected sighting of a zebra mussel or another non-indigenous aquatic plant or animal, go to nas.er.usgs.gov/SightingReport.aspx.
[[Invasive zebra mussels found in pet shops nationwide]]
Introduce them to lion fish- problem solved
I just checked my moss balls and didn’t find any mussels. Close call!
I was waiting to read that these invasive mussels originated from China. Not this time.
But behind the chalet
My holiday’s complete
And I feel like William Tell
Maid Marian on her tiptoed feet
Pulling mussels from a shell
Pulling mussels from a shell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeGtQ7Hw4uc
Foreigners bring their habits, pets, foods, and any of their creepy crawlies with them.....the mail and airports are full of this stuff.
It sounds to me as if we need a predator that reproduces at a modest / controllable rate, yet could easily be raised in hatcheries, with throat parts that can crush these mussels, that typically does not disrupt other fisheries, and is also worth fishing for. A slightly improved redear sunfish, perhaps?
Resources to prevent invasive muscles but not invasive illegal alien gimmegrants.
LOL, I started singing that song when I read the title.
Aren’t those Zebra mussels edible?
Send them to pelosi’s fish farm.
USGS MAY NEED TO WORK THE BORDER
In Minnesota you are suppose to wash off your boat after taking it out of the water onto your trailer before you can leave the lake area because of this issue.
# 8 It sounds to me as if we need a predator
I suggest Tribbles.
I was told that in CA one has to show their boat is totally dry before it can go IN the water. Pull the drain plug, etc., on a large boat. (I guess the idea is that the bilge pump can’t kick mussels out into the lake?)
Tribbles can swim?
They become really big when in the water.
https://static.wixstatic.com/media/eb3945_f46475460ea2463482163971354665c6~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_740,h_377,al_c,lg_1,q_90/eb3945_f46475460ea2463482163971354665c6~mv2.webp
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