Are zebra mussels eating or helping toxic algae?

While invasive zebra mussels consume small plant-like organisms called phytoplankton, Michigan State University researchers discovered during a long-term study that zebra mussels can actually increase Microcystis, a type ...

Invasive species not best conservation tool, study says

Harnessing an invasive fish species sounded like a promising conservation tool to help reverse the destruction wreaked by zebra mussels on endangered native mollusks in the Great Lakes - except that it won't work, says a ...

Alien invaders get a bad press

A new study, published in Acta Oecologia, says many of the most damning claims about invaders are not backed up with hard evidence. This might be skewing priorities when it comes to dealing with them.

Chemical-munching mussels contaminating Great Lakes

Zebra mussels from the Caspian Sea, introduced to North America by accident, are becoming a veritable plague releasing toxic chemicals into the Great Lakes, Canadian biologists say.

Invisible invasive species

While Asian carp, gypsy moths and zebra mussels hog invasive-species headlines, many invisible invaders are altering ecosystems and flourishing outside of the limelight.

15,000 reasons to worry about invasive species

A day at the beach in Wisconsin's North Woods didn't used to go like this. Candy Dailey spent a Fourth of July holiday splashing with grandkids on the sandy shore of Lake Metonga when she felt a nasty sting on her foot.

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Zebra mussel

The zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, is a species of small freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk. This species was originally native to the lakes of southeast Russia . However, it has been accidentally introduced in many other areas, and has become a problematic invasive species in many different countries.

Although zebra mussels superficially resemble marine mussels in the family Mytilidae, and like them, are attached to solid substrates with a byssus, nonetheless, zebra mussels are not at all closely related to the mytilids; they are much more closely related to the Veneridae, the venus clams.

Zebra mussels get their name from a striped pattern which is 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 two inches (5 cm). The shape of the shell is also somewhat variable.

The native distribution of the species is the Black and Caspian Sea. Zebra mussels are an invasive species in North America, the British Isles, Spain, and Sweden.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA