“They can get into pipes, they can damage boats, infrastructure, watercraft, water treatment facilities.” Zebra mussels only get about as large as a thumbnail, making them easy to miss during their early stages of growth. “Because they are so small a lot of people think they’re negligible but they cause a lot of damage,” she said in a recent interview. Kristen Noel, project coordinator of the Nova Scotia Invasive Species Council, calls the mollusks “colonial mussels” because they often out-compete other species for dominance in an ecosystem. “They multiply extremely quickly, taking over areas to the point that they damage infrastructure, clog water intake pipes, endanger native freshwater mussel species, drastically alter ecosystem functioning, and make recreational areas like beaches unusable.”
“While they may look inconspicuous, zebra mussels are considered to be one of the world’s worst aquatic invasive species,” the councils said in a joint news release in March.
Now that the mussels have been found in the Maritimes, the councils are warning that prevention is key to stopping the spread of the creatures. Reports of mussels found in moss balls - which are special kinds of algae often used as decor in aquariums - have been made recently in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, according to those provinces’ invasive species councils, which work with governments and industry to prevent the spread of invasive animals and plants. The mussels, native to the Black and Caspian seas in southeastern Europe, cause millions of dollars of damage each year to power stations and water-treatment plants around the world. Zebra mussels are tiny creatures - 700,000 can exist in a square meter of space - but they cause big problems. HALIFAX - Invasive species experts in Atlantic Canada are warning fish enthusiasts and aquarium retailers to inspect their fish tanks after zebra mussels were found in moss balls across the region.
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