Quagga Mussels In AZ

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Quagga Mussels In AZ

• Larry Riley
• Arizona Game and Fish Department

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Quagga/Zebra Mussel

• An Aquatic Invasive Species. Two closely related
  species of mussel or freshwater clam.
  
• Introduced to the US in the mid-1980s into the
  Great Lakes. Have since spread across much of the
  Eastern US, where they have proliferated and
  caused serious concern and damage.
• Leapt from the Great Lakes/Mississippi River to
  the Colorado River. First detected Jan. 2007.

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Unwelcome Visitor

• Quagga Mussel Detected Lake Mead, Jan 6

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A Lake Mead Quagga

• A close up view

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Pretty Big Jump

• Distribution of quagga mussel in North America

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Quagga mussel in Arizona

• First detection in the West at Lake Mead in Jan.
  2007.
  
• Scientists have identified this clam as quagga
  mussel.
  
• It is unknown how long they have been in Lake
  Mead, but may be up to 4 years.
  
• While Lake Mead and other sites were being
  monitored for zebra mussel, the quagga escaped
  detection until this year.

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Extent of Infestation

• Current known range of quagga mussel in the west
  includes the Boulder Basin (lower basin) of Lake
  Mead, Lake Mohave, and Lake Havasu.
  
• Adults are likely present in all basins of Lake
  Mead.
  
• Adult mussels have been found at the Mark Wilmer
  Pumping Plant intakes in Lake Havasu, which feeds
  the Central Arizona Project.
  
• Veligers are moving.

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Potential Hazards from Quagga

• We are trying hard not to exaggerate the
  potential impacts.
  
• Impacts can include
• Obstruction of canals, dams, intake structures,
  and water conveyance facilities. Mussels attach
  firmly to hard surfaces in potentially very dense
  clusters (up to 700,000 per square meter).
• Damage to recreational facilities and equipment
  including boats, marinas, boat ramps, etc.
  

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Impacts Continued

• There are potential ecological impacts to
  fisheries resources, with mussels affecting the
  food resources available to fish principally in
  lakes, but potentially in rivers as well.
• Mussels can foul beaches and other places where
  people recreate.

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Likely Pathways for Further Movement

• The larval or juvenile form of the mussel will
  move with the water. There is evidence for spread
  down river and via the CAP and SRP systems.
  
• Adult, and potentially larval, mussels can be
  moved from lake to lake on boats and recreational
  equipment. (Note, there are more than 4.5 million
  boater days on the Lower Colorado River)

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Learn More

• Visit www.azgfd.gov
• Visit www.100thmeridian.org
• Visit www.Protectyourwaters.net
• http//cars.er.usgs.gov/Nonindigenous_Species
• http//el.erdc.usace.army.mil/zebra/zmis/

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What We Are Asking Folks to Do

• Remove any mud or vegetation from your boat or
  trailer mussels can hide and hitchhike with
  this material.
  
• Drain the water from your boat motor, livewell,
  and bilge on land before leaving the immediate
  area of the lake.
  
• Completely inspect your vessel and trailer,
  removing any visible mussels, but also feel for
  any rough or gritty spots on the hull. These may
  be young mussels that can be hard to see.

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More To Dos

• Wash the hull, equipment, bilge, and any other
  exposed surface with hot, soapy water.
  
• Clean and wash your trailer, truck or any other
  equipment that comes in contact with lake water.
  Mussels can live in small pockets anywhere water
  collects.
• Air-dry the boat and other equipment for at
  least five days before launching in any other
  waterway.
  
• Do not reuse bait once it has been exposed to
  infested waters. AND NEVER DUMP YOUR BAIT
  BUCKET.
  

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How Did Quagga Escape Detection

• Monitoring for zebra mussels was based on use of
  artificial habitat substrates suspended in the
  water at about 4 feet in depth. The quagga mussel
  in the Colorado River are being found at depths
  of 25 feet to over 100 feet. Samplers were not
  effective at detecting them at that depth.
• Original detection at Lake Mead was by commercial
  divers moving breakwaters anchored in deeper
  water.

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What Was the Likely Pathway for Introduction of
Quagga

• The exact pathway is unknown, but strongest
  likelihood was the rapid movement of a larger
  boat or piece of maintenance equipment infested
  with mussels from infested areas to Lake Mead
  (more than 1,000 miles).
• Large boats that are moored in the water can be
  encrusted with these kinds of mussels, including
  interior wet spaces.

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How Did a Mussel Infested Boat Get Into Lake Mead

• It is difficult to say.
• Lake Mead and Lake Powell NRA staff have been on
  the lookout for mussels for nearly a decade.
  
• Concessionaires at marinas were on the lookout
  for mussels, and suspect boats being identified
  and required to be cleaned before launching.

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What Has Happened Since the January Detection

• We have been collaborating with the National Park
  Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, States of
  Nevada, California, Utah, and many others
  
• Determine extent of infestation
• Stimulate public awareness of the infestation and
  issues associated with it.
  
• Planning and Execution of Actions
• Communications strategies for lake visitors.
• Containment strategies to prevent spread.
• Evaluate feasibility of eradication or control.

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Extent of Infestation

• Adult mussels have not been identified in the
  Central Arizona Project Aqueduct or Salt River
  Canals. We are working with CAP, Salt River
  Project, and others to monitor the Aqueduct and
  SRP canal system, and Central Arizona Reservoirs
  for quagga mussel.
• Divers and biologists have evaluated key portions
  of Lake Pleasant with no detection of adult
  quagga mussel.
  
• Densities of mussel populations are not high at
  this time, with largest populations in Lake Mead
  and smallest at Lake Havasu.

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Pretty Big Jump

• Distribution of quagga mussel in North America

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Coordination in Arizona

• We are working with Land and Water Mangers in
  Arizona to inform them, collaborate on
  monitoring, and outreach to the public about
  steps that can be taken to limit the spread of
  quagga mussels.
• Partners include ADWR, ASP, USFS, USBLM, USBR,
  SRP, CAP, and others.

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Concerns from Other States

• Obviously, Arizona, Nevada, and California have
  immediate issues.
  
• Most other western states are very concerned
  because of the proximity of quagga mussel to
  other western waters (Utah, Oregon, Washington,
  Idaho, etc) and potential effects to the upper
  Colorado River and the Columbia River systems.

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Response

• Initially have focused on identifying
  distribution and outreach (media). Media
  attention will wane, so longer-term outreach
  tools are being developed.
• Organize and network with partners and affected
  communities.
  
• Determine if there are feasible control or
  eradication(?) strategies to contain them where
  they are or remove them. Eradication is not
  likely.
• Develop and implement feasible ways to interdict
  movement as hitchhikers.
  

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More Detail

• More detail is available on
• Where these mussels come from,
• Impacts where they have been introduced,
• The biology of the zebra/quagga mussel,
• Messages we are sharing with the public to enlist
  their aid in preventing the spread.
  
• The 100th Meridian Website (www.100thmeridian.org)
  has been our focal coordination area.
  

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Native Range

• Dreissena bugensis is indigenous to the Dneiper
  River drainage of Ukraine. It was discovered in
  the Bug River in 1890 by Andrusov, who named the
  species in 1897 (Mills et al., 1996). Canals
  built in Europe have allowed range expansion of
  this species, and it now occurs in almost all
  Dneiper reservoirs in the eastern and southern
  regions of Ukraine and deltas of the Dnieper
  River tributaries (Mills et al.,1996).

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Reproduction

• Prolific breeders possibly contributing to their
  spread and abundance.
  
• Dreissena are dioecious (either male or female)
  with external fertilization.
  
• A fully mature female mussel is capable of
  producing up to one million eggs per season.
  Reproductive at 9 C.
  
• After fertilization, pelagic microscopic larvae,
  or veligers, develop within a few days and these
  veligers soon acquire minute bivalve shells.
  
• Free-swimming veligers drift with the currents
  for three to four weeks
  
• Veligers settle and secure with byssal threads.
• Mortality in this transitional stage from
  planktonic veliger to settled juveniles may
  exceed 99

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A Quagga Veliger
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Zebra Mussel - Early Post-veliger Stage
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Veligers contain crystalline calcite
Other invertebrates also have this indicator - O
stracoda Some have similar shapes during some l
ife stages - Cladocera
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Feeding

• Filter feeders they use their cilia to pull
  water into their shell cavity where it passes
  through an incurrent siphon and it is here that
  desirable particulate matter is removed.
• Adult mussel is capable of filtering one or more
  liters of water each day, where they remove
  phytoplankton, zooplankton, algae
  
• Undesirable particulate matter is bound with
  mucus, known as pseudofeces, and ejected out the
  incurrent siphon. The particle-free water is then
  discharged out the excurrent siphon.

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What Areas Will They Occupy

• Attach to substrate. They appear to be broader in
  their use of substrate than zebra mussel, and may
  use small rocks, pebbles, even perhaps sand.
  
• We currently are finding them between 25 and 100
  feet in depth. But patterns of colonization and
  population dynamics in Ukraine and North America
  indicate that D. bugensis is not limited to
  deep-water habitats.

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Limiting Factors?

• In North America, zebra mussel survive
  indefinitely at 30C, but quagga exhibits high
  mortality at this same temperature (not the case
  in Russia).
• Quagga mussels are usually found in fresh water
  in salinities up to 1 they can reproduce in
  salinities below 2-3, and are killed by
  salinities exceeding 6
• Larvae negatively affected at salinities of 4