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ENLARGE
Introduced, non-native species upset the balance of the ecosystem, and grow unchecked without any natural predators. A number of these species have proven to be serious environmental threats. Many aquatic species are passengers on commercial vessels, especially in ballast water. Cholera was brought around the world this way. Hundreds of species of macro and microorganisms have been found at one time in the ballast water of ships.
A hitchhiker in ballast water from Russia is the zebra mussel. It has been steadily invading America’s rivers and lakes. This mussel originated in the Balkans, Poland, and the former Soviet Union and first appeared in North America in 1988 in Lake St. Clair, a small water body connecting Lake Huron and Lake Erie. Federal lawmakers continue to squabble over how to stop overseas ships from dumping unwanted organisms into the world’s largest freshwater system, the Great Lakes .There is pressure to change the way the lakes’ shrinking overseas shipping industry operates. An average of two ocean ships per day now arrive in the Great Lakes during the nine-month shipping season, yet the industry is still responsible for most of the invasive species introductions into the lakes since the St. Lawrence Seaway opened 50 years ago.
It was hoped the mussels could be contained east of the 100th meridian, but they have begun showing up in the American West. Quagga mussels, a related species, were first discovered in lakes along the Colorado River. Subsequent surveys found smaller numbers of quagga mussels in Lakes Mohave and Havasu in the Colorado River, and in the Colorado River Aqueduct System which serves Southern California.
Zebra mussels get their name from the striped pattern of their shells, though not all shells bear this pattern. They are about the size of an adult fingernail but can grow to a length of nearly 2 inches. They have a lifespan of 4 to 5 years and inhabit fresh water at depths of 6 to 24 feet. A female zebra mussel starts to reproduce at 2 years of age, and can produces between 30,000 and 1 million eggs per year — about 2 percent reach adulthood.
Young zebra mussels are small and free swimming, and can be easily spread by water currents. Older zebra mussels attach themselves to hard surfaces. Unlike other freshwater mollusks, zebra and quagga mussels form large colonies on any surface.. They can clog pipes, valves, and any water-related equipment or surface. They can ruin boats by jamming equipment and cause motor damage. The mussels may attach to boats, pilings, water-intake pipes, as well as to crayfish, turtles, other zebra mussels, and native mollusks. Their razor-sharp shells can make beaches hard to walk on. They alter lakes’ balance of algae and can cause taste and odor problems in the water supply — and they are detrimental to fisheries by consuming nutrients and altering the food chain. They’re nearly impossible to kill, once they’re established. While zebra mussels can attach themselves securely, they may also move, and can reattach themselves easily if dislodged.
Mussels are clogging Hoover dam’s cooling system and can cause generators to overheat. This has the potential to cause this power plant that supplies electricity to half a million homes to shut down. A marina dock worker figures he cuts himself 10 to 15 times a day because anything he plucks from the water “is like grabbing something that’s covered in broken glass.” It took just two months for quagga mussels to find and colonize a piece of pipe that was submerged in Lake Mead as part of a test by the regional Clean Water Coalition. The 15-foot-long pipe was clean when it was sunk in about 110 feet of water in November. When it was pulled in January, it already was speckled inside and out with juvenile quaggas no bigger than a grain of sand. In places, the infestation resembled a coarse layer of stucco.
The Denver Water board has temporarily closed Antero Reservoir to boaters while it works out a strategy to prevent the spread of zebra mussels. San Luis Lake is closed to motor boats. Boulder Reservoir was off-limits to large boats until April 3 in an effort to keep the lake safe from the invasive species. Dillon and many other reservoirs will inspect boats planning to launch. Contaminated boats will be quarantined and must be decontaminated. One simple way of decontamination is 140-degree water on contact, and complete drying of all surfaces. Zebra mussels have, so far, been found in seven lakes in Colorado including Lake Pueblo, Grand Lake, Shadow Mountain Reservoir, and Lake Granby within Colorado, the state is taking precautions to prevent the further spread of the mussels. The Colorado State House is expected to give approval to a bill already passed by the Senate that would provide $7.2 million for the inspection and decontamination program.
Dr. Joanne Stolen recently retired from Rutgers University where she taught microbiology. Her scientific interests are in emerging infectious diseases and environmental pollution. She is now full-time resident of Breckenridge.
A hitchhiker in ballast water from Russia is the zebra mussel. It has been steadily invading America’s rivers and lakes. This mussel originated in the Balkans, Poland, and the former Soviet Union and first appeared in North America in 1988 in Lake St. Clair, a small water body connecting Lake Huron and Lake Erie. Federal lawmakers continue to squabble over how to stop overseas ships from dumping unwanted organisms into the world’s largest freshwater system, the Great Lakes .There is pressure to change the way the lakes’ shrinking overseas shipping industry operates. An average of two ocean ships per day now arrive in the Great Lakes during the nine-month shipping season, yet the industry is still responsible for most of the invasive species introductions into the lakes since the St. Lawrence Seaway opened 50 years ago.
It was hoped the mussels could be contained east of the 100th meridian, but they have begun showing up in the American West. Quagga mussels, a related species, were first discovered in lakes along the Colorado River. Subsequent surveys found smaller numbers of quagga mussels in Lakes Mohave and Havasu in the Colorado River, and in the Colorado River Aqueduct System which serves Southern California.
Zebra mussels get their name from the striped pattern of their shells, though not all shells bear this pattern. They are about the size of an adult fingernail but can grow to a length of nearly 2 inches. They have a lifespan of 4 to 5 years and inhabit fresh water at depths of 6 to 24 feet. A female zebra mussel starts to reproduce at 2 years of age, and can produces between 30,000 and 1 million eggs per year — about 2 percent reach adulthood.
Young zebra mussels are small and free swimming, and can be easily spread by water currents. Older zebra mussels attach themselves to hard surfaces. Unlike other freshwater mollusks, zebra and quagga mussels form large colonies on any surface.. They can clog pipes, valves, and any water-related equipment or surface. They can ruin boats by jamming equipment and cause motor damage. The mussels may attach to boats, pilings, water-intake pipes, as well as to crayfish, turtles, other zebra mussels, and native mollusks. Their razor-sharp shells can make beaches hard to walk on. They alter lakes’ balance of algae and can cause taste and odor problems in the water supply — and they are detrimental to fisheries by consuming nutrients and altering the food chain. They’re nearly impossible to kill, once they’re established. While zebra mussels can attach themselves securely, they may also move, and can reattach themselves easily if dislodged.
Mussels are clogging Hoover dam’s cooling system and can cause generators to overheat. This has the potential to cause this power plant that supplies electricity to half a million homes to shut down. A marina dock worker figures he cuts himself 10 to 15 times a day because anything he plucks from the water “is like grabbing something that’s covered in broken glass.” It took just two months for quagga mussels to find and colonize a piece of pipe that was submerged in Lake Mead as part of a test by the regional Clean Water Coalition. The 15-foot-long pipe was clean when it was sunk in about 110 feet of water in November. When it was pulled in January, it already was speckled inside and out with juvenile quaggas no bigger than a grain of sand. In places, the infestation resembled a coarse layer of stucco.
The Denver Water board has temporarily closed Antero Reservoir to boaters while it works out a strategy to prevent the spread of zebra mussels. San Luis Lake is closed to motor boats. Boulder Reservoir was off-limits to large boats until April 3 in an effort to keep the lake safe from the invasive species. Dillon and many other reservoirs will inspect boats planning to launch. Contaminated boats will be quarantined and must be decontaminated. One simple way of decontamination is 140-degree water on contact, and complete drying of all surfaces. Zebra mussels have, so far, been found in seven lakes in Colorado including Lake Pueblo, Grand Lake, Shadow Mountain Reservoir, and Lake Granby within Colorado, the state is taking precautions to prevent the further spread of the mussels. The Colorado State House is expected to give approval to a bill already passed by the Senate that would provide $7.2 million for the inspection and decontamination program.
Dr. Joanne Stolen recently retired from Rutgers University where she taught microbiology. Her scientific interests are in emerging infectious diseases and environmental pollution. She is now full-time resident of Breckenridge.
