Outdoor Professsor's Tips

  Hello, I'm the OUTDOOR PROFESSOR from DiscoveringTheOutdoors.com/ Here's your outdoor tip on zebra mussels. Non-native zebra mussels were found for the first time about 20 years ago in North America. It is thought they were carried in the ballast tanks of ships from western European ports to Lake St. Clair and the lakes Huron and Erie. Now, a great deal of attention has been on the ballast water of cargo ships to prevent more introductions of this invasive animal into the Great Lakes region. The name “zebra mussel” comes from the striped pattern of their shells. The pattern does vary from very dark to the point of only light stripes on some shells. The mussels can grow to a size of about 50mm but are only 5-10 mm during their first year of age. Zebra mussels have upset the aquatic food chains of many inland lakes in the United States Their voracious filter systems deplete the microscopic organisms that are critical parts in each lake’s ecological food system. This affects the food for