Underwater Race Against Quagga Mussels: For ages, the Great Lakes have hidden accidents and lost items. Once, these freshwater havens were a treasure for divers and historians, offering a glimpse into the past.
Imagine exploring the Great Lakes’ clear waters and finding well-preserved shipwrecks with visible dishes in the cabinets. Imagine planes crashed at the lake bottom, defying gravity, ready to take off. Time boxes show how lakes preserve marine history.
But an attacker disrupts the balance. Quagga mussels have invaded the Great Lakes in the past 30 years. These mollusks eat a lot because they’re hungry. Due to their big appetite, they are now the most common alien species in these pristine waters.
Quaggas ignore obstacles in their path. They’ve used shells to cover wrecks. Finding historical treasures is challenging. These mollusks are widespread and harmful. They burrow into ships and pile dirt until the ship’s structure is crushed. Their acid dissolves steel, iron, and metal ships.
In 1989, quaggas and zebra mussels invaded the Great Lakes. Quaggas were bigger, hungrier, and hardier in the cold. They outcompeted zebra mussels and dominated lakes.
Quaggas destroy ships and more. Due to excessive plankton consumption, these filter feeders disrupt lake food chains and ecosystems. The Great Lakes now look like tropical seas due to increased clarity. Quaggas are riskier because they can live on softer surfaces at shallower depths than zebra mussels.
Quaggas have yet to invade Lake Superior due to calcium limitations for mussel shells. This trait saved sunken ships like the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Sea scientists and historians must work quickly due to limited time. People hurry to locate and record ships to prevent quaggas from damaging them.
Despite the decaying materials, these ships are historically significant. They are memories from the shipping business that made Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, and Toledo busy ports. Preserving underwater riches is crucial for historical reasons and our connection to the past. These stories should be kept in books as living history.
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Our Reader’s Queries
What is true about aquatic invasive species such as quagga mussels and crayfish?
The mussels spread quickly and cause the U.S. to lose billions of dollars annually. They block water intakes and harm equipment by sticking to boat motors and other hard surfaces (Figure. 1b). They can disrupt fisheries, suffocate native mussels, and crayfish (Figure.).
Do historians race to find Great Lakes shipwrecks before quagga mussels destroy the sites?
Archaeologists and history enthusiasts are in a frantic race to locate Great Lakes shipwrecks before quagga mussels obliterate the remains. The once-pristine fresh water of the lakes used to safeguard the shipwrecks, but the invasive mussels are causing irreversible damage. As a result, experts and amateur researchers are on a tight schedule to discover and document as many wrecks as possible before they are lost forever.
What kills quagga mussels?
Canals and aqueducts can use water drawdowns to dry out mussels, effectively killing them. In specific circumstances, poisons like chlorine and copper sulfate, which are harmful to quagga and zebra mussels, can be utilized for this purpose.
How are quagga mussels being controlled?
Numerous methods can be used to manage quagga and zebra mussels, such as preventing settlement, drying out, physically removing them, using oxidizing biocides, applying heat, and employing biological control. However, there are few tools available in the Western region that are both effective and affordable, while also being environmentally friendly.