An increasing number of damaging aquatic species are invading state waters, according to a recent alert from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Zebra mussels are among the more aggressive transgressors and they pack a negative economic wallop: billions of dollars in Missouri, for example, which was invaded in the 1990s.
Zebra mussels are now found throughout the Housatonic River and its impoundments including Lake Lillinonah (since 2010), Lake Zoar (since 2010) and Lake Housatonic (since 2011). They are native to Eastern Europe and Asia and the females produce a million eggs per year. They have no natural enemies in this hemisphere.
Prior to their discovery in Lillinonah and Zoar lakes in 2010, zebra mussels had only been found in Connecticut in East Twin Lake and West Twin Lake in Salisbury in 1998. Because the mussels are small, there can be a lag of several years between invasion and evidence of it; some mature adults can be just a quarter-inch across.
DEEP urged anglers to exercise vigilance during cleanups. Zebra mussels spread from waterway to waterway by hitching rides. Â A tuft of plant material could easily harbor a colony. A recently released DEEP diagram urges bow-to-stern inspections of a dozen critical spots.
“Anglers fishing in any of these waters and western Connecticut in general should use extra care to avoid transporting water, aquatic vegetation, and possibly zebra mussels to new locations,” the advisory said. “Before leaving a boat launch, practice the ”˜Clean, Drain, Dry”™ technique.”
The state of Missouri has an aggressive zebra mussel program. The mussels were first spotted there in 1991 and now the Show Me State says, “Economic impact is expected to be in the billions.”
Zebra mussels first appeared in North America in 1988 in Lake St. Clair, which connects Lake Huron and Lake Erie. Biologists believe the zebra mussels came from Europe in the ballast water of a ship, discharged in Lake St. Clair.
Among the prolific bivalves”™ habits is a love of water systems used for drinking and industry. They also colonize other wildlife, with blankets of zebra mussels covering individual turtles and clams. A single large clam may hold up to 10,000 small zebra mussels.
Between 1993 and 1999, a New York state study estimated zebra mussels had already cost local economies and businesses $5 billion nationally.
Canadian power companies that draw water from the Great Lakes report spending about $400,000 per year per plant to fight the mussels. The Canadian mussels are cited for blocking pipes, jamming valves, corroding equipment via their own life-and-death cycle and adding methane gas to the water.
