Easier Detection of Veligers

From April 30, 1991 (update #7)

PICTON, Ont. - A 3-page report on a method that uses a sugar solution to more efficiently detect zebra mussel veligers in plankton samples is available from Ted Schaner of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR). Veligers can be separated from other plankton by allowing the sample to settle through a column of sugar solution. Most of the veligers are recovered within 20 minutes in a few drops of liquid at the bottom of the column, permitting quick examination. The method is especially suitable for initial detection of veligers at low concentrations, but potentially it also has quantitative applications. Schaner used it last summer and anticipates further refinements as others use the method. Copies are available from Schaner at the OMNR Lake Ontario Fisheries Unit, R.R. #4, Picton, Ont., Canada, K0K 2T0, phone (613) 476-2400.

ID: 19910430-6.

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.