Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 3, 1993 TAG: 9308030198
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CLINCHPORT LENGTH: Medium
The coalfields of Southwest Virginia are thousands of miles from the Caspian Sea of Kazakhstan in the former Soviet Union. But Virginia wildlife officials are certain visitors from the Russian steppes soon will be residents of the Clinch and other state rivers.
The zebra mussel, a freshwater bivalve that first appeared in the Great Lakes in 1988 and has since spread through the upper Mississippi River drainage, may soon invade Virginia, biologists say.
"There are no zebra mussels, as far as we know, in Virginia. But it's simply a matter of time," said Sue Bruenderman, an aquatic biologist with the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries in Blacksburg.
The 1 1/2-inch mussel breeds at an extraordinary rate, producing 30,000 to 40,000 larvae in two to three years. The mussel binds itself to any hard surface and then begins multiplying.
One Canadian water plant on Lake Ontario was shut down while workers removed 30 tons of the mussels from the plant's 2 1/2-mile water intake pipe.
The mussel was first discovered in this country in Michigan. Since then, the mussel has spread throughout the Great Lakes and entered the Mississippi River. By attaching itself to barges and boats, it has traveled down the Mississippi and up its tributaries, including the Tennessee and Ohio rivers.
"Virginia is likely their next stop," Bruenderman said.
Scientists speculate that the mussel came to this country in freshwater in the bilge of a freighter. When the freighter unloaded its cargo at a Great Lakes port, it also dumped its bilge water, releasing the mussel larvae.
Bruenderman said the state has enlisted the help of fisherman to spot the exotic invader. Cards with pictures of the black-and-white striped mussel have been distributed to stores that sell fishing licenses, to be handed out with each license.
The state is concentrating on the mussels' main means of transportation - barges and recreational boats and boat trailers. The mussels can live 14 days out of water.
Southwest Virginia, home to several of the state's endangered species of freshwater mussels, is especially vulnerable to the infestation.
"The zebra mussel could easily wipe out our endangered mussels," Bruenderman said. "About all we can do now is to try to slow the spread."
by CNB