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Tahoe mussel worries on rise

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 6, 2008 at 6:23 am

From the Reno Gazette Journal:

Discovery of invasive mussels in a set of high-elevation Colorado lakes is diminishing confidence that Lake Tahoe could be immune from invasion.

Quagga and zebra mussel larvae were discovered at Lake Granby this summer and have now been found in two other reservoirs connected to the lake, said Steve Chilton, aquatic invasive species coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Granby was probably at less risk than we are. If they can establish themselves at that lake, they can certainly do so at Lake Tahoe,” Chilton said.

Zebra and quagga mussels are close cousins native to Eurasia, believed to have been introduced to the United States through the ballast of oceangoing ships. They were first discovered in the Great Lakes in the late 1980s and have since proliferated widely in that region.

Their westward migration reached Nevada in January 2007, when quagga mussels were found in Lake Mead. They have since spread, probably as stowaways aboard pleasure boats, to several other bodies of water in Southern Nevada and Southern California, while zebra mussels were recently discovered in a Northern California reservoir only 250 miles from Lake Tahoe.

Read more from the Reno Gazette-Journal by clicking here.

October 6, 2008 · Filed Under Invasive Species, Lake Tahoe & the Sierra's