Scientific name- Dreissena polymorpha

Zebra mussels are from the Caspian Sea region (in Asia north of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran), and they came to North America on ships. Zebra mussels stick themselves to objects (like the ships) and are moved around mainly by ships. They are very small, almost the size of your fingernail (50 mm). They are like a smaller mussel that you would see in an ocean, but zebra mussels are mostly found in fresh water.

In the U.S., zebra mussels were first found near Detroit, in Lake St. Clair. Then, only a small number of zebra mussels were in the Great Lakes, but they have quickly moved all over the Great Lakes and many other waterways. Zebra mussels can have babies many times in one year, so zebra mussels can very quickly gain numbers.

Zebra mussels are a problem for many reasons. First, zebra mussels stick to hard surfaces. They can cause people to have to clean boats more often and scrape zebra mussels off of docks, and zebra mussels cause people to have to buy wire nets to protect native mussels from zebra mussels. Businesses that use water for cooling and other things also get their waterways blocked by zebra mussels. There are so many of the zebra mussels and they reproduce so quickly that they are able to spread around America fast. They also can cause people to have more work and damage a lot of property. As a result, businesses have to spend a lot of money on cleaning up zebra mussels.

Another reason zebra mussels are causing problems for animals is that they eat plankton, like many fish. More zebra mussels mean less food for the native fish (from the United States). Zebra mussels can wipe out whole populations of fish by eating so much plankton.

Zebra mussels also hurt native mussels. Zebra mussels stick to mussels’ backs and stay there for a long time. This restricts the mussels’ movement and ability to do things like eat and escape from predators. These native mussels usually die.

There are many things that people are doing to lower the number of zebra mussels in Michigan lakes and waterways. Some things people are doing are making newsletters, websites, and using other forms of communication to update people on what is going on. These communications (web-sites and newsletters) tell people how many zebra mussels are in what areas, if they have spread recently, what people are still doing to lower the number of zebra mussels, and what people need to do to help.

The Zebra Mussels Update is a newsletter that is sent out to people all over the US. It is used to tell people about the latest research that scientists are doing on zebra mussels, and it tells people the results of the research. The newsletter also discusses how people are trying to control zebra mussel.

The Zebra Mussel Information Clearinghouse, now called the National Aquatic Nuisance Species Clearinghouse, is a place where people can e-mail, call, or come to for help with information about zebra mussels. There are also now many research programs that are trying to teach people how to help decrease the number of zebra mussels.

Ordinary people are doing different things to stop the spread of zebra mussels, too. One thing that they are doing is pouring chlorine onto boats and docks which will not allow zebra mussels to stick onto them. This gives the people less work cleaning them off. People are also using hot water, which has the same effect as the chlorine, but it is not used as much. Finally, people are using a special paint on boats and docks that will not allow zebra mussels to stick on them.

Click on the "Introduction" button below to see the bibliography for this page and more information on nonnative species.