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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | When I pulled my Big boat 2 weeks ago after it sat in the marina water for about 100 days, I was shocked to see very few Zebra Mussel attached to the outdrives, protective boots or trim tabs like in years before. I'll bet there wasn't 100 mussels all together on the whole thing. This compares to about the 3,000 I estimate were there last year. I thought that my decision to paint my outdrives with the usual copper anti-fouling bottom paint last spring was the reason, and I was kinda proud of myself. But now I hear that everybody is seeing less mussels this year then in years past. Could it be that the goby populations are thinning them out? Anybody else who leaves their boats in the water all summer on the Great Lakes or connecting waters seeing the same thing?
Edited by walleye express 9/27/2007 8:03 AM
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Location: Midland, MI 48642 | Its the solution the marina is putting in the water each day Dan. Skeeter |
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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | I didn't hear about any solution and they'd need a very rare DNR permit for anything like that. I E-mailed my DNR bud and heres his answer.
Dan:
I am only speculating, but I doubt its the gobies, instead we are seeing far more quagga mussels in the bay and far fewer zebra mussels. What has changed to give quaggas the upper hand over zebras I don't know. The benthification process (the filtering of organic matter from the water cloumn) that is playing out in Lake Huron is continuing and in ways we don't exactly understand right now. |
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Location: in the boat off the east shore somewhere | ok wait? what is the diference between these two? is the water getting clearer in huron? i know these things filter water but i have my own theory of why our water is getting clearer,,, im no scientist but here we go... you ready for this one? The water table and lake levels are WAY DOWN.... no soil erosion.. keep draining the lake ,,, waves can tear up a shorline but if its just hitting sand instead of dirt.. its not going to get dirty,,,, same in rivers,,,, the dirt from runoff has to travel threw too many locks and dams before it gets to the lake... big or small river we just dont have the current. but hey what do i know... our great lakes are low !!!!!!!!! staying close to home , lake winnibago is down and kept down all winter to prevent ice diggin into the shorline and the rest of the year controlled ,ask anyone on the great lakes shorline ,,, water has not even go close to high enough to take any soil from there shorline. and the rivers move slow , , there for most of the dust settles before it gets to the great lakes ,,,, , |
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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | I don't have Dr. in front of my name either. But heres what I know. 1 Zebra Mussel can filter clean 2 quarts of water per day. Times that by 1 billion (or more) zebras. Then times that by 365 days a year. Then times that by the 10+ years they've been around.
I E-mailed my bud back about why, if the Quagga Mussel is taking over and they spread/reproduce the same way as do zebras, why didn't I have a stern/outdrive full of them instead of the zebras? He didn't know. |
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Location: Menasha, WI | Here's a pretty good explanation of the questions you're posing: What, after all, could cause more havoc than the zebra mussel? Meet the quagga mussel. Less than four years after that reassuring report, quagga mussels have gone from a rare find on the bottom of Lake Michigan to its dominant invasive mussel. Along the way, they have done what many invasion biologists thought would be impossible: They have nearly annihilated Lake Michigan's zebra mussel population. -snip- Zebra mussels depend on relatively warm water and must attach themselves to hard surfaces. That typically limits their range in Lake Michigan to the rocky nearshore areas, and they do most of their filtering work during the warm summer months. But quaggas can thrive in both warm water and near-freezing conditions. They are flourishing at depths of 300 feet and have been found at depths as deep as 540 feet in the lake, and filtering year-round. They can also colonize sand, clay, pebbles - anything but soft mud. http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=423678 Here's a segment from Wi Public TV on quagga mussels: http://www.glwi.uwm.edu/features/news/InWisconsinQuaggas.php
Edited by Viking 9/27/2007 11:25 AM
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Location: Waukesha Wisconsin | Viking thanks for the info. Very imformative.
Dan,
The video that Viking shared answered one of your questions. They say that the quagga mussels can not hold on as well as the zebra. They also mention that the quagga mussels filter one liter of water per day.
My observation from reading and watching all of the video suggests that that the doom and gloom is not as bad as they are suggesting. Isn't the deeper depths of Lake Michigan made up of a mud base? If true, they say these critters can not survive in mud. They have nothing to grab on to.
Don't get me wrong, I'm startled and upset with the new exotics. Wish we kept it to only dancing 
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Location: Menasha, WI | My pleasure Dennis. The subject of exotics/invasives is of particular interst to me given the complexity, uncertainties, and potential consequences. I enjoy a good puzzle. When I first saw that video and the explanation of the lower tensile strength of the strands connecting the quagga mussels, my glib reaction was, "Hmm, maybe quaggas should be introduced into Bago to wipe out the zebras, I'd probably save a few bucks on jigs." A more sober response was, "Hmmm, the system seems to have adapted reasonably well to the zebras, why take chance on something that the system may not incorporate so well."
Edited by Viking 9/27/2007 12:52 PM
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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Very interestting stuff for sure Viking. Of course we're not taking any chances with anything, these things are dropped off here without our permisson. But if these quaggas displace the zebras with their living nitch being in the deeper waters of the Great Lakes, encourage more algae growth in the process, Saginaw Bays shallow water ecosystem may actually benefit from them and usher back in the (near extinct) alewives. Of course the reason why we even have this great fishery recently on the Saginaw is due to both the renewed walleyes natural reproduction and that because of the alewives demise. Wow...talk about ecosystem roulette. Hope we don't land on Red.  
Edited by walleye express 9/27/2007 1:28 PM
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Location: in the boat off the east shore somewhere | wow keep it comming,,, there are those of us like me who chime in and often dont take the time to research the information ourselves and than others who when the question is asked jump in and dig until they come up with something that offers up a good picture of what is going on in 500 feet of water.... amaizing.... i too am interested in how these things tick,,, thanks for painting the vivid pictures ,,, these things can grab onto sand? or atleast somethign smaller then a pebble i guess.. |
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