Cliff's notes

From January, 1995 (update #23)

I get a lot of help from my family tracking down what's interesting about zebra mussels. My parents send me newspaper clippings, and whenever my wife and three young boys visit the Green Bay shoreline, they bring back pocketfuls of zebra mussel shells. A few years ago zebra mussel shells were at a premium. They quickly lined our garden paths, along with assorted driftwood and Unionid clam shells, and it looked like we had mostly muskrats for neighbors. Recently, my boys started collecting large zebra mussel shells. So let's start the competition here and now. I don't think my kids have even scratched the surface. But let's start with their biggest yet - 42 mm long. If you find one larger, send it to me (carefully packed) with the date and location where you found it. I'll be the official referee and keep track of the current champion, keeping a separate category for kids. The official trophy for the winner will be a kid's soccer trophy encrusted with zebra mussels. It will take a while to "prepare" the trophy, so we'll make the deadline for entries Dec. 31, 1995. Happy hunting!.

ID: 199501-21.

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.