Zebra vs. Quagga elucidation

Well, the highly invasive zebra mussels have finally made it to California. It was only a matter of time as Quagga mussels were found here back in February. The economic impacts of this will far outweigh the dreaded Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata). For one thing, Medflys only attack fruit crops. Zebra and quagga mussels attack water and eco-systems. Medflys are eradicable. Zebra and quagga mussels aren't.

California is a state whose economy is highly dependent on the extensive water system. Snowmelt is captured in giant reservoirs and distributed via rivers and giant aqueducts throughout the state. These mussels will clog the distribution plants and pumps and cause millions of dollars in damages, as they already have done in the Great Lakes and Mississippi River drainage. Here is a photo of a boat prop taken by David Britton of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
And a Budweiser can.

I don't even want to think about what they will do to the ecosystem. Zebra mussels are notorious for filtering out all the plankton (food for other species), as well as attaching to and potentially suffocating any aquatic creature with a hard surface. They have caused severe declines in native Unionid mussel populations, many of which are already on the brink. This is why: (UPDATE--No, this is NOT a shoe, as someone who shall remain nameless, but happens to be married to me thought. It is a larger native Unionid mussel covered in zebra mussels. Can you tell what species, Kia?)I found this photo on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers website regarding the zebra mussel caused devastation to the native Unionid mussel species in Lake St. Claire.

The giant reservoirs have already caused declines in most of the anadromous fish species, and many are threatened with extinction, including Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tschawytscha), steelhead (O. mykiss), green sturgeon (Aciperser medirostris), and very likely river lamprey (Lampetra ayresii) by among other things blocking them from their historic breeding grounds. The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta ecology is collapsing due to intensive modification over the last 150 years, other invasive species including two other bivalve species (Corbula amurensis and Corbicula fluminea), pollution, and heavy water diversion. All the Delta pelagic fish species have recently suffered a precipitous step-decline - introduced species as well as native. Zebra mussels have the potential to finish off species like the Delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) that are just barely holding on as it is.

When the quagga mussels were first discovered, I happened to be the only Environmental Scientist working with a group of engineers. I put together an e-mail for them, because I feel that enginerds need this occasionally (I know Kia has already seen it):

Your Biology lesson for the day

Zebra:






Equus sp.

Zebra mussel:







Dreissena polymorpha

Quagga:

Equus burchelli quagga - a sub-species of Burchell’s Zebra hunted to extinction in the late 1800’s. The last Quagga died in the Amsterdam Zoo in 1883.

Quagga mussel:








Dreissena bugensis - a NON-extinct close relative of the zebra mussel