Mike,

Thanks for you help with this Quagga Mussel Issue.  I believe you will be one of our first lines of defense in the discovery of this invasive species.  

Hope these pictures help, If you need more please let me know.










Also I just wanted to give you a little more information about where to look for these little guys.


 

They love the dark areas of a lake or structure.  Divers at Lake Mead found the very first adult mussels under small ledges and in cracks along the lake floor.  They were often covered with silt and hard to pick out.  Bryan the Biologist at Mead was doing a training session with 10 groups of divers.  He showed them the mussels, explained to them what to look for and educated them on where to look, out of the 10 groups of divers only 2 groups brought back Zebra Mussels.  Utah is home to several native mussels that are much larger then the Quagga Mussel, so they can be hard to Identify.  Another good place to look is under rocks.  They range in size from a 1mm to the size of a penny like I showed you in the picture. On a boat haul they can feel like sandpaper on the surface.  So you can see the challenge in detecting them. 

Before the Quaggas are mature enough to reproduce they float around in the water as Veligers.  Boaters can transport the tiny Veligers in live well, bilges, ballast systems, and many other parts of their boats.  Divers should also be carful of transporting Veligers, especially if they are diving in a known contaminated water.  So if you were to go to Lake Mead for a dive with Bryan you would want to decontaminate your gear after diving and definately before you enter another uncontaminated body of water.  Bryan would teach you how to do this at lake Mead.  Again, if you want to plan a dive to Lake Mead or Mojave I would be happy to contact Bryan for you and get something set up.  I was just in the lake last week and it was incredibly warm, and nice!





People should be concerned about the mussels they are very costly both economically and ecologically.  The Great lakes Region spends upwards of 1 billion dollars a year trying to clean and maintain structures that the mussels clog.  They could also have a significant impact on the fishes of a lake that gets infested.  











So I hope this little bit of information help you and adds to your web site.  If you need anything else please contact me and I will help in every way I can.








Thanks again

Natalie


Natalie Muth
ANS Biologist
152 E 100 N Vernal UT 84078
(435) 790-8938
nataliemuth@utah.gov

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