Zebra Mussels in Lake Winnebago?

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From January, 1996 (Update #26)

Lake Winnebago may be infested. A boat moved to Oshkosh in August transported zebra mussels from Green Bay to the upper Fox River a few miles from where the river enters Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin DNR officials reported in October. Two adult zebra mussels and a dozen smaller zebra mussels were found in part of the inboard/outboard drive system of a boat taken out of the Fox River, according to DNR fisheries biologist Lee Myers. Because Green Bay is infested with zebra mussels, it's likely the mussels were picked up there, Myers said. This is the first detection of zebra mussels in the Lake Winnebago system. "The adult mussels appeared to be alive, and the boat was in the Fox for about two months," Myers said. "But we had no way of knowing if the adults reproduced during that time." Lake Winnebago is home to an estimated 25 million freshwater drum and 40,000 lake sturgeon larger than 45 inches, both of which consume native fingernail clams, according to DNR fisheries biologist Ron Bruch. "Winnebago will be a good test case of whether fish predation can limit zebra mussel populations," Bruch said.

ID: 199601-11.

The Zebra Mussel Update was a 4- to 8-page quarterly national newsletter published by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute from May 1990 through May 1997. The ZMU documented the spread of the zebra mussel -- an exotic nuisance mussel -- through North America's freshwater environments, especially the Great Lakes, and on efforts to control it.