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Quagga Mussel

Scientific Name

Dreissena rostriformis bugensis (Andrusov, 1897); formerly known as Dreissena bugensis (CABI)

Common Name

Quagga Mussel

Native To

Dnieper River drainage of Ukraine (NAS Database)

Date of U.S. Introduction

First discovered in 1989 (NAS Database)

Means of Introduction

Ballast water (NAS Database)

Impact

Alters food web by filtering water and removing plankton; clogs water-intake pipes (NAS Database)

Quagga mussel

Quagga mussel, adult

Credit

Photo by Amy Benson; U.S. Geological Survey

Find more images

Spotlights

  • Quagga Mussels Detected for First Time in a Texas Reservoir

    • Feb 2, 2022
    • Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

    • The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) reports that invasive quagga mussels have been detected for the first time in Texas. The quagga mussel discovery was made by National Park Service (NPS) staff at the International Amistad Reservoir in the Rio Grande basin along the Texas-Mexico border near Del Rio. Quagga mussels are a close relative of the zebra mussel, which has invaded 33 Texas lakes across six river basins since it was first introduced in Texas in Lake Texoma in 2009. In addition to being the first detection of quagga mussels in Texas waters, this is also the first finding of any invasive mussel species in the Rio Grande basin.

      TPWD and partners monitor for invasive mussels in Texas lakes, but anyone who finds them in lakes where they haven’t been found before should report them immediately by emailing photos and location information to AquaticInvasives@tpwd.texas.gov.

  • Utah DWR and Partners Announce Revolutionary New Method for Decontaminating Boats, Removing Invasive Quagga Mussels

    • Apr 8, 2021
    • Utah Department of Natural Resources. Division of Wildlife Resources.

    • The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Clean Wake LLC, the National Park Service at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and other partnering agencies are excited to announce a new first-of-its-kind dip tank method (YouTube video - Lake Powell AIS Dip Tank) that will revolutionize boat decontamination in the fight against invasive quagga mussels.

  • ICYMI Bulletin: USGS Uses "eDNA" to Combat Invasive Species

    • Oct 16, 2020
    • DOI. United States Geological Survey.

    • Invasive zebra and quagga mussels are an immediate threat to Western states. With no controls, they spread rapidly, foul boats and equipment, clog water intake, and increase costs to hydropower operations and municipal water utilities. Even dead mussels can be a nuisance, littering beaches with shells. Management of these invaders is expensive; in the Great Lakes, managing mussels costs about $500 million annually. Until 2007, the mussels were limited to waterways and lakes east of the Mississippi, but now they have spread westward. In 2016, quagga mussels were found in Lake Powell.

      Unfortunately, there are no foolproof existing technologies or treatments to eradicate established mussel populations in large, open water systems in an environmentally sound manner. Early warning, however, helps us prepare before the mussels or other invasive species arrive.

  • Trump Administration Strengthens Rapid Response to Invasive Mussels to Protect Western Waters

    • Nov 18, 2020
    • United States Department of the Interior.

    • The Administration announced a new interagency conservation agreement to protect western water supplies, power generation, outdoor recreation and aquatic ecosystems by strengthening efforts to combat invasive mussels.

      A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) among the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, and six Department of the Interior bureaus focuses on boosting federal coordination, communication and collaboration to enhance the capacity of federal, state and tribal agencies to rapidly respond to discoveries of invasive mussels in western states.

  • Updated Recommendations for the Quagga and Zebra Mussel Action Plan for Western U.S. Waters [PDF, 3.93 MB]

    • Sep 2020
    • Western Regional Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species.

    • The Western Regional Panel prepared Quagga and Zebra Mussel Action Plan 2.0 to inform ongoing management and partnership efforts intended to minimize the spread and impacts from zebra and quagga mussels in the western United States. The original QZAP action items have guided prevention, containment, research, and management to address the ecological and economic impacts of invasive quagga and zebra mussels since 2009. The purpose of QZAP 2.0 is to provide a systematic and unified approach to prevent the spread of zebra and quagga mussels into and within the western United States in the future. The urgency and the need for such a coordinated approach remain as important today as ever before. Newly infested waters, increased boating pressure, and gained public and political awareness drove the need for the Western Regional Panel to acknowledge and learn from the past and set forth a new collective path towards the future. These recommendations are intended to inform decision-making to provide increased capacity and clear direction that empowers the further implementation of a collaborative and coordinated multi-jurisdictional regional strategy to prevent the spread of quagga and zebra mussels in the West. For more resources, see: Key Documents

  • Invasive Mussels in the American West

    • DOI. United States Geological Survey.

    • A geonarrative by USGS and Geoplatform.gov examining the spread of invasive mussels in the American West.

      See also: Geonarratives for all USGS geonarrative / story map resources

Distribution / Maps / Survey Status

Federally Regulated

  • Injurious Wildlife Listings - Keeping Risky Wildlife Species Out of the United States

    • DOI. FWS. Fish and Aquatic Conservation.

    • Includes species listed as injurious wildlife under the Federal Lacey Act (18 USC 42), which makes it illegal to import injurious wildlife into the U.S. or transport between the listed jurisdictions in the shipment clause (the continental U.S., the District of Columbia, Hawaii, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any possession of the U.S.) without a permit. An injurious wildlife listing would not prohibit intrastate transport or possession of that species within a State where those activities are not prohibited by the State. Preventing the introduction of new harmful species is the only way to fully avoid impacts of injurious species on local, regional, and national economies and infrastructure, and on the natural resources of the U.S.

      Injurious wildlife are wild mammals, wild birds, amphibians, reptiles, fishes, crustaceans, mollusks and their offspring or eggs that are injurious to the interests of human beings, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, wildlife or wildlife resources of the U.S. Plants and organisms other than those stated above cannot be listed as injurious wildlife. For more information, see What Are Injurious Wildlife: A Summary of the Injurious Provisions of the Lacey Act and Summary of Species Currently Listed as Injurious Wildlife.

Videos

Selected Resources

The section below contains highly relevant resources for this species, organized by source.

Council or Task Force
Partnership
Federal Government
International Government
State and Local Government
Academic
Professional
Citations