Michigan's Mottled Sculpins Made Homeless

From March 23, 1993 (Update #16)

Several changes in the bottom-dwelling fauna in nearshore areas of southern Lake Michigan were observed last summer by John Janssen, professor of zoology at Loyola University of Chicago. During dive surveys near Chicago, Janssen found greatly reduced numbers of mottled sculpins - four-inch-long benthic fishes that inhabit rocky areas. He said zebra mussels were filling up crevices beneath the rocks in the lake, thereby excluding sculpins from their usual daytime haunts. Unlike other years, he said he also noticed large mats of algae covering the bottom in rocky areas.

ID: 19930323-11.

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.