ISAW: Zebra Mussels!

Have you ever cut yourself on something sharp on or near a dock on the lake? It was probably a zebra mussel.

Larval zebra mussel

Zebra mussels are named for their zebra-like stripes and were brought to the U.S. from the region between Eastern Europe and Western Asia, carried in ship ballast water (what ships use to control how much they float). These mussels have spread throughout Cayuga Lake and can be found along docks, in sediment at the bottom of the lake, and even floating in the water. Zebra mussels float in their larval stage, but are microscopic, requiring a microscope to see them.

Students looking at zebra
mussels in sediment on our boat.

Discover Cayuga Lake looks at zebra mussels with classes, both in the early fall when they appear in our plankton samples and throughout the year with sediment samples collected from the lake bottom. 

It is nearly impossible to control the spread of these mussels, once they are carried into a body of water, their tiny larvae can travel easily between other bodies of water. There is some speculation, however, that zebra mussels may not be that harmful to lake ecosystems. This is false! While zebra mussels do increase lake clarity and make lakes seem cleaner, that is only because they are filter feeders and are eating the plankton community. This is a negative impact because the plankton community uses the sunlight, so otherwise the sunlight penetrates deeper in the lake and can cause algae that prefer deeper water to grow more.