'Astounding' Numbers of Zebra Mussels Found on Aquatic Weeds

From July 15, 1993 (update #17)

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The best way to prevent zebra mussels from spreading to inland lakes is to clean aquatic weeds from trailers and boats, according to Ladd Johnson, a visiting scientist at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. As part of Johnson's Sea Grant-funded study, he examined boats removed from Lake St. Clair and found that up to a quarter were trailing aquatic weeds with zebra mussels attached. "The number of zebra mussels we found on plants was astounding," Johnson said. "One strand of coontail was so heavy it couldn't float anymore." Reports like Johnson's have prompted UW-Madison zoology professor Jim Kitchell to suggest that the inland Wisconsin lakes most likely to become infested with zebra mussels are the same ones that experienced an early invasion by Eurasian water milfoil. Both organisms - zebra mussels and water milfoil - require similar water quality conditions and are spread by similar human vectors. Kitchell believes reviewing the historical pattern of the Eurasian water milfoil invasion might help predict the spread of zebra mussels to inland lakes.

ID: 19930715-4.

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.