Focus on Fish Gallery Guide Focus on Fish Final | Page 36

Zebra
Mussel
Habitat and Diet:
Zebra mussels live in still or slow-moving freshwater, and
attach themselves to any hard surface including rocks,
submerged wood, boat hulls, buoys, docks, and water intake
pipes. Zebra mussels were originally found in the rivers and
lakes that connect to the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, in
eastern Europe and western Asia. Shipping and canal
construction in the 1800’s allowed them to spread west in to
most European rivers and lakes. In the late 20th century they
were accidently brought to North America, probably in ballast
water of large ships.
Relationship to humans:
The introduction of zebra mussels into our Great Lakes has
created major economic problems. The mussels grow on all
kinds of man-made structures in the water, including water
intake pipes for drinking water facilities and power plants.
Businesses and governments spend billions of dollars trying to
keep pipes open. They also damage boats and navigational
buoys. Zebra mussels eat phytoplankton faster than
zooplankton in the water does. This means zooplankton and
the fish that live in the open waters (like walleye, salmon and
lake trout) have less to eat. Also, zebra mussels don’t like to
eat certain kinds of toxic blue-green algae. When zebra
mussels have spread to inlands lakes in North America, the
amount of this toxic type of algae increases.