Volunteer Monitoring for Zebra Mussels
Dispersal
•Introduced in Lake St. Clair in the 1980s
•Spread through
–Water currents
–Boats, barges
–Aquatic plants
•Survive out of water
for extended periods depending upon temperature, humidity, wind and sunlight
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Zebra mussels were found for the first time in North America in 1988 in Lake St. Clair, which is part of the Great Lakes system. Lake St. Clair is the small, heart-shaped lake between Lakes Huron and Erie. The large red dot to the left of Lake St. Clair is the city of Detroit, and zebra mussels quickly spread away from there.
How did they spread? The larvae can spread on water currents, of course, but most zebra mussels probably dispersed by attaching to solid objects, particularly boat hulls, motors, and anchors. Latching onto barges may be an effective way for zebra mussels to spread through river systems. In addition, zebra mussels may colonize aquatic plants, for example, if boaters fail to clean the plants off their boats and trailers when they pull their boats out of the water.
Zebra mussels can survive a long time out of water, depending on the temperature (they like it cool), the humidity (more humid is better), wind (less wind is preferable), and sunlight (they like shade). On average, adults can survive about 10 days out of water and juveniles about 3 days, but they’ve been known to survive as long as 21 days out of water in cool, moist conditions.