Wisconsin Update - Mussels Found in Two New Lakes

From October, 1995 (Update #25)

While more than 60 lakes were sampled this summer for zebra mussels in a joint program conducted by Wisconsin Sea Grant and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, by the end of August zebra mussels had been found in only two new lakes Powers Lake, a 459-acre lake in Kenosha County, and Beulah Lake, and 834-acre lake in Walworth County. Low concentrations of veligers were discovered in samples taken from Powers Lake June 21 and July 11. A Beulah Lake sample taken June 29 also showed a low concentration of veligers. However, subsequent samples taken from Beulah Lake revealed no veligers. The presence of zebra mussel veligers in a lake doesn't necessarily foretell a full-scale invasion of adult mussels. Last summer veligers were found in one mid-summer plankton sample taken from Okauchee Lake. However, adult mussels have never been reported from that lake, and veligers have not been found again in any plankton samples taken since the original sampling. Okauchee Lake was the first inland Wisconsin lake in which zebra mussel veligers were found.

ID: 199510-14.

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.