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By Devlin Patterson
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The Zebra mussel is becoming a huge pest to our fresh waters of
Nova Scotia, originally native to the lakes of southeast Russia. This
alien species are Prodigious eaters, they filter out nearly all the
phytoplankton (and small zooplankton) in the 15-40 micrometer size.
Zebra mussels is a fresh water mollusk that looks like a mussel, and
like them they attach themselves to rocks and other items just a
marine mussels do. However Zebra mussels have a D shaped shell
which is have a striped pattern commonly seen on their shells, though
not all shells bear this pattern. They are usually about the size of a
fingernail, but can grow to a maximum length of nearly 5.1 cm
The life span of a zebra mussel is about four to five years with the
female starting to reproducing at two years of age.
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It is thought that they were accidentally
brought to Canada on the hulls or in the ballast
water of vessels from Europe. Zebra mussels
were first discovered in 1988 in Lake St. Clair
which is a small lake between Lake Erie and
Lake Huron. From there they have branch out
and now affect many other lakes and rivers in
Canada.
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Although not located on the maps we know
that they have infested many waters from
Manitoba to the Atlantic provinces. The great
lakes tend to be more damaged by this
invading species.
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There is evidence These mussels have
permanently changed the ecosystem. Before
the mussels invaded, many Lakes waters were
mostly cloudy and millions of tiny
microorganisms provided a food base for fish.
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Because the mussels filter the microorganisms,
the waters today are surprisingly clear,
allowing light to penetrate to greater depths,
which in turn promotes prolific, nuisance algae
blooms.
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They impact an ecosystem by removing most
of the food for microscopic zooplankton and
filter feeders, which in turn support larval and
juvenile fishes and other animals, zebra
mussels can effectively starve the native
populations .
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Once zebra mussels become established in a
water body, they are impossible to eradicate
with the technology currently available. Many
chemicals kill zebra mussels, but they are so
tolerant and tough that everything in the water
would have to be poisoned to destroy the
mussel. Most commercial water users rely on
chemicals such as chlorine, filters, or scraping
to remove mussels from their boats and
facilities