how are zebra mussels spread?
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A single female zebra mussel can produce up to a million eggs per year. As the eggs are free-floating, they are picked up by water currents, winds and waves and can quickly spread in large numbers through the water.
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Zebra mussels live in still or slow-moving freshwater, and attach themselves to any hard surface under water, natural or man-made, including rocks, submerged wood, boat hulls, buoys, docks, and water intake pipes. They need water will dissolved calcium to live, and they grow best if the water is not acidic at all.
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Zebra mussels have become an invasive species in North America, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Sweden. They disrupt the ecosystems by killing off local mussels, and damaging harbors and waterways, ships and boats, as well as water treatment and power plants.
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The mussels increased water clarity, but unleashed ecological havoc. ... As they filter water through their bodies, zebra and quagga mussels consume plankton, tiny organisms that are the foundation of the Great Lakes food chain. That increases water clarity, which allows sunlight to penetrate deeper in the lake.
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Zebra mussels are an invasive, fingernail-sized mollusk that is native to fresh waters in Eurasia. ... Zebra mussels negatively impact ecosystems in many ways. They filter out algae that native species need for food and they attach to--and incapacitate--native mussels.
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zebra mussels are a huge problem because they harm Native Species. In order for a zebra mussel to live, it must attach itself to a hard object. ... Zebra mussels contribute to biomagnification—the toxins that they filter out of the water are concentrated in their bodies, and passed on to their predators.
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Zebra mussels a 'threat to the water system' Millions of invading zebra mussels are playing havoc with England's drinking water supplies. The zebra mussel is a species that arrived 200 years ago in the UK from the Caspian Sea and is now thriving as a result of the cleanliness of our water systems.
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The impacts of Zebra Mussels include: Filter water to the point where food sources such as plankton are removed and alter the food web for other species. ... Zebra Mussels filter contaminants from the water, and can move them up the food chain as mussels are consumed by fish and wildlife.
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Zebra mussels first arrived in Canada in 1986. They were found in a harbour in Lake Erie, most likely transported from Europe via transatlantic shipping. ... By 1991, zebra mussels began to spread to smaller inland lakes in Ontario and the eastern United States.
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What do they eat? Phytoplankton: very small plants, like algae, that float in the water. Zebra mussels are filter feeders they take in water and remove what food they want.
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Zebra mussels are a small, destructive invasive species that can spread across Texas by hitching a ride on boats and trailers. They grow to only about 1 ½ inches and develop a distinctive zebra-striped shell. One zebra mussel can produce up to one million microscopic larvae.
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Lake floor food supplies are enriched by zebra mussels as they filter pollution out of the water. This biomass becomes available to bottom-feeding species and to the fish that feed on them.
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How Did They Get Here? The zebra mussel escaped from its homeland in the Black and Caspian seas in the 1700s and emigrated to western Europe. From there, it hitched a ride in the ballast tanks of ships across the Atlantic and through the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Great Lakes.
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The Zebra Mussel gets its name from the dark, striped pattern on their shells. ... Zebra Mussels are believed to have hitch-hiked from Europe to North America in ballast water from transoceanic ships.
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The zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, is believed to have arrived in North America as a freshwater ballast stowaway in commercial vessels from Europe sometime around 1986. The mussel was first discovered in the Great Lakes in Lake St. Clair in June 1988.
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Zebra Mussel filters water to the point where food sources such as plankton are removed, altering food webs. This also causes clearer water, allowing sunlight to penetrate deeper, increasing growth of aquatic vegetation.
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Zebra mussels are not native to the Great Lakes. They were first discovered in the area in the late 1980s, and it has been an ongoing battle to get rid of and control them ever since.