zebra mussels came to north america in 1988.
zebra mussels came to north america in 1988.
when did zebra mussels come to north america?
1988
leith is well known for sport fishing. in 1921 sea lamprey or lamprey eel ("petromyzon marinus") invaded the great lakes through the welland canal, though, significantly reducing the numbers of lake trout and whitefish. while the lake trout have largely vanished from lake huron, rainbow trout and salmon still exist in the lake. since 1988 a species native to asia, zebra mussels ("dreissena polymorpha"), have invaded the great lakes and the owen sound area has not been spared. swimmers at leith have received cuts to their bare feet from the very sharp shells of these little molluscs.in the 1990s the great lakes were again invaded by the round goby, a small bottom-dwelling fish, which feasts on zebra mussels along with fish eggs and native baby trout. round gobys can often be observed feeding in the shallow waters at the bridge over telfer creek in leith. the zebra mussel population has been kept at bay.
leith, ontario
there has been some research on the freshwater drum's impact on the invasive zebra mussel in northern lakes and rivers. zebra mussels are consumed by freshwater drum once they reach a length of , but drum under in length only eat small mussels and reject the larger ones. the fish larger than exhibit less selectivity and consume mussels relative to their availability in lakes. these larger fish are not restricted by their ability to crush the zebra mussels, but they are restricted by the size of the clumps that they can remove. though the drum do eat zebra mussels, they are not having an impact on the spread of this invasive species. though they do not control the population of zebra mussels, they do contribute to a high mortality in the zebra mussels.
freshwater drum