a herd of zebras, a bed of bivalves

I had a couple former and present board members send me pictures of their buoys this fall, which seemed to be coated in a larger-than-normal layer of Zebra mussels. Did you see this two? Let me know.

Another commented to me, upon seeing these photos: “Wow.  That is reminiscent of 10 years ago or more.”

Zebra mussels are an invasive species that showed up in N. America in the late 1980’s and have subsequently spread to dozens of U.S. states. A recent study of their population in neighboring Kosciusko County noted that “zebra
mussel settling and habitat on these lakes are complex, and lakes may vary drastically over a small geographic area in terms of the presence of mussels at this stage in their infestation” (Lilly Center for Lakes and Streams). You can read more in the Lilly Center’s information blog post on the subject.

I sent the photos to the aquatic biologists at the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and received this reply:

We do not track density of zebra mussels within lakes in Indiana.  We keep a list of lakes that have been positively identified to have zebra mussels located in it, which Lake Maxinkuckee is currently on. In past occurrences after a huge increase then the populations crash down to a lower to an equilibrium. If you have any more questions, please let me know.

So… there you have it. For already-invaded lakes like ours, there’s not much to do, other than try to avoid stepping on them! (I had half a mind to grab some and feed them to my chickens… until I read that they can bioaccumulate toxins.)

And if you do move your boat between lakes, clean and dry it to avoid spreading to the few lakes which do not yet have populations of them.

Sorry to leave this post on a sour note, but it seems that just a few weeks ago, another species of invasive mussel was spotted in N. America for the first time ever. Yikes!