I was reading an interesting article about quagga mussels and how they’re affecting the Great Lakes and their run-off rivers and creeks. It seems they’re also affecting many lakes in California too! Here’s the article I read:
http://www.record-bee.com/sports/ci_12456316
So I was curious and did a look-up of these quagga mussels on wikipedia:
Quagga Mussels on Wikipedia
There’s even a map on wikipedia to show you how bad the spread of the mussels has become throughout the US. Pennsylvania has 2 known locations; none in New Jersey or Maryland yet.
These mussels are VERY prolific and just one mussel can take over a whole lake within a short amount of time. Seems they clean the water by siphoning off the plankton, but this in turn takes away the food that young freshwater fish need. So the fish population is definitely affected by these non-native intruders.
There is one hope though, it seems that yellow perch have developed a liking to these things and may help in the effort in trying to get them under control.
This is just another example of how mankind’s carelessness can cause great devastation on our environment. Let’s all try to be more conscious of our actions and their effect on our environment – what do you say?
Hope you have a great week and I’ll catch you later.