Zebra Mussels in Lake Michigan, an aquatic invasive species

The problem of zebra mussels in the Great Lakes stems from the fact that they are fast growing and cover everything. They were brought into the Great Lakes via ballast water from ocean going ships, and once they got here they quickly got a strong hold.
The zebra mussels will cover everything and as you can tell from the video they are taking over the beaches as well. At some place along the lake you will have beaches that are no longer covered in sand, but rather zebra mussels.
The zebra mussels are filter feeders, sifting the water through their gills. Because of their feeding methods and sheer numbers, they typically change the water clarity quite drastically.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• invasive
• fishing
• travel log
• nature
• wildlife
• wilderness
• outdoors
• aquatic
• species
• zebra
• mussels
• great
• lakes
• lake
• michigan
• filter
• feeder
• feeding
• eating
• echinoderm
• mollusca
• environmental
• issue
• environment
• issues
• global
• warming

[johnjirvin]

that sucks, i hope they can somehow contain these mussels or find a way to get rid of them, you're right they are EVERYWHERE! so they came in from the ocean but they can survive in the Great Lakes? or are the great lakes salt water-i know thats a dumb question, you dont have to answer, ill google it

[ringo999999]

@johnjirvin well thats an interesting question, so post what you find! I'm under the impression that they were originally from ballast water in ocean going vessels, however before crossing they may have picked them up in freshwater...just my thoughts, I'm curious what you find!

[johnjirvin]

@ringo999999

You were correct-they are known to come out of the ballast water from the ships, and they are normally fresh water creatures, its surprising to me that these originated in Russia and now they are all over the world, its crazy! Thanks for uploading this video I love to learn new things and I live YouTube for allowing all of us to share our vids :)

[ringo999999]

@johnjirvin I agree, always good to learn new stuff, and now I know for sure that they are freshwater but obviously pretty hardy to survive what they do. But isn't that always the case with invasives, hardy as heck.

[madalynisabelx3]

i used this in a presentation, thanks so much!!! :)

[craig134Gameplay]

kool