Exotic species can easily become lodged in your jet drive system and be transported if you take your watercraft from one water body to another. When you have your boat on the trailer and out of the water, simply run the engine for five to ten seconds to blow out any excess water and vegetation.

Where did zebra mussels come from?

• Zebra mussels are believed to have come from the Caspian Sea in Europe
• They arrived in the late 1980s in the ballast water of ships
• Zebra mussels have spread to 20 states in the U.S. as well as Ontario and Quebec
• First discovered in Lake St. Clair, a fresh-water lake that lies between Ontario and Michigan, zebra mussels travelled south to the Gulf of Mexico and north into southern Canada

What are zebra mussels?

• Zebra mussels can be up to two inches or 50 mm in length
• They have striped shells that look like a zebra’s stripes, which is how they got their name
• Zebra mussels can live for four to five years
• Zebra mussels also have sticky byssal threads which they use to attach tightly to any hard surface

Why are zebra mussels a problem?

• Unfortunately, some people believe the water clarity caused by the zebra mussels is a good thing: the zebra mussels are helping to clean the water. But zebra mussels filter water, up to one litre per day, to eat the plankton. In fact, they’re clearing the water of plankton which makes the water murky. Since zebra mussels eat a lot of plankton, they compete with native fish for food
• Another problem with clearer water is that sunlight penetrates deeper, stimulating plant growth, which can become a burden to boaters and swimmers
• Zebra mussels also clog pipes by forming colonies inside of the pipes. As a result, the water can’t flow easily through the pipes
• The annual cost on the Great Lakes to control the zebra mussels in water intake pipes is $250 million

Photo courtesy of stormyred_28 under the Creative Commons License.