First Sighting in Chicago Waters

From June 14, 1991 (update #8)

CHICAGO -- Several dozen zebra mussels were found anchored to waterlogged tree limbs and lumber in Monroe Harbor in April -- the first documented evidence of the mussels in Chicago waters, according to a report in the John G. Shedd Aquarium's WaterShedd newsletter. The mussels, the largest of which were thumbnail-size, were found by scuba divers collecting trash and debris as part of Eco-Dive '91, an annual Earth Day observance organized by the Shedd Aquarium and Aquasphere Project. Most of the large amount of wood debris was attributed to 13 boats that sank in the harbor during a storm last fall.

ID: 19910614-5.

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.