The Zebra Mussels In The Hudson River

In May 1991, zebra mussels were found in the Hudson River. 500 billion of these mussels were found in the course of a year. They looked seemingly harmless, but over time these mussels became a sort of threat. They were destroying the microscopic animals in the river. On the other hand, they also help out by a ton. Here is how the zebra mussels destroyed and helped the river.

Zebra mussels are small, bivalve mussels originally from the lakes and rivers located in Eastern Europe and in the western parts of Russia, which includes the Caspian Sea. Macalester.edu states that “they are filter feeders, pulling nutrients directly from the water.” They are about the size of your fingernail and can grow up to two inches long. They most likely came over to America “in the ballast water of ocean-going ships entering the Great Lakes. They spread further by latching on to recreational boats that were later used in new, uninfected bodies of water.” states macalester.edu.

This had a huge effect on the planktons. Zooplanktons the eat phytoplankton. If there isn’t much phytoplankton for the zooplankton to eat, there numbers will decrease. The article “ The Short‐Term Impact of the Zebra Mussel Invasion,” “phytoplankton fell by 80 percent. Zooplankton (which eat phytoplankton) declined by half. And the smallest zooplankton (called micro‐zooplankton), fell by about 90 percent.” Finally, dissolved oxygen in the river dropped by 15