Zebra Mussels

 “Irrigated agriculture is thought to be at great risk from these species, they impact water conveyance systems, and the State of California has ramped up efforts, they have a 6 million dollar a year program right now and it’s because of the threat to movement of water. If you can visualize barnacles on a boat, these are like barnacles on steroids.”

 That’s Amy Ferriter, Idaho Invasive Species Coordinator, talking about quagga and zebra muscles that have invaded the Mid-West, California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah. Idaho officials are very concerned about them getting into our waterways.

 (Ferriter) “They are a major fouling organism. They totally encrust boats, pipes, power generation equipment, so that’s their main economic impact. They also are very sharp-shelled so if they were to foul fish ladders, they would impact fish trying to make their way up the fish ladders. They filter quite a lot of nutrients out of the water so they also have an impact on the food web. They’re about the size of a finger nail.

 And Amy says they have no natural enemies.