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Quagga Mussels Have Overwhelmed Zebra Mussels

The Duluth News Tribune reports that Russell Cuhel, a senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Great Lakes WATER Institute, says that the quagga mussel seems to have nearly annihilated the zebra mussel population. Zebra mussels devour plankton, filter nearshore waters to unnatural clarity that spawn excessive algae outbreaks, and clog industrial water intake pipes. Quaggas have done the same thing on a larger scale, blanketing the lake bottom in many of the deep, cold places that the more delicate zebras can't survive. Cuhel says "Everybody used to say, 'Oh no, zebra mussels!' Well, zebras don't hold a candle to what these guys are going to do to Lake Michigan."

The quagga may be responsible for the drastic decline in diporeia, a tiny, shrimp-like plankton that is an important food source for some fish. The average density of diporeia dropped from 1,836 per square meter five years ago to 293 today.

Read More invasive mussel appears to be taking hold in Lake Michigan from the Duluth News Tribune
Invasive Mussel information from Michigan Sea Grant

Posted/updated May 15, 2006
by Andrew McFarlane (Absolute Michigan)