More Cold Veliger Reports

From June, 1994 (update #21)

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Zebra mussel veligers were regularly detected throughout the winter in water samples collected from the Niagara River, according to Garry Smythe, Environmental Technical Director for Acres International Corp. Veligers were found in nine of 14 samples collected by the Erie County Water Authority (ECWA) between December 2, 1993, and February 23, 1994. Densities ranged from 14 to 920 per cubic meter. Water temperatures observed during collections ranged from 44 F (6.7 C) to 32 F (0 C). Smythe reported a similar observation of veligers at cold temperatures from samples taken at New York Power Authority facilities in Lewiston, which is located several miles downstream from the ECWA sample station. Live and dead veligers were found in three of four samples taken at 32 F (0 C). Jerrine Nichols of the National Biological Survey said veligers found in cold water are most likely produced by adult mussels living in heated discharge waters from power plants or other warm industrial outfalls. It's unlikely that mussels can spawn at such low temperatures, she said.

ID: 199406-8.

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.