Great Lakes Now is hosting a live chat about invasive species with the Belle Isle Conservancy on Friday, Aug. 7. Check out the event page here for more details.
Since the 1800s, at least 25 non-native fish species – like the sea lamprey, zebra mussel or round goby – have entered the Great Lakes, changing the Great Lakes ecosystem in a variety of ways.
Once these creatures have a foothold in the lakes, a lack of natural predator often means a wild spread of the creature that is nearly impossible to contain.
Zebra and quagga mussels were introduced to the Great Lakes in the late 1980s and made trouble by clearing the waters for toxic algae and clogging up water intake pipes.
Watch this Great Lakes Now segment to see one of the ways people are dealing with the problem:
API key not valid. Please pass a valid API key.Catch this Great Lakes Now segment on the relationship between the round goby and zebra mussels:
API key not valid. Please pass a valid API key.While carp and sea lamprey are well known, there are other invasive species that aren’t as famous but still pose a big problem.
Each Great Lakes state and province have made efforts toward preventing the spread of invasive species, through campaigns, removal programs and research efforts.
Take this Great Lakes Now quiz to learn a bit about six of the more common Great Lakes invasive species and which one you might most be like:
Also, go behind the scenes with the Belle Isle Conservancy in Great Lakes Now’s last live chat with them:
API key not valid. Please pass a valid API key.Take more quizzes from Great Lakes Now:
Animal Quiz: What Great Lakes aquarium animal are you in quarantine?
Fatberg Quiz: Which fatberg are you most like?
Read more invasive species news:
Least Wanted: Potential Great Lakes invasive species are little known but still a big problem
Controlling Invasives: States urge residents to help stop spread of invasive species
Mercury Levels Maintained: Invasive mussels keep mercury levels high in Great Lakes fish
2 Comments
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I enjoyed the website, took the quiz and found out that I am a zebra mussel type.
The site looks great. I look forward to helping again next summer.
Sandra Lee
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Zebra mussels (and possibly quaggas) have changed the feeding habits of several diver duck species. Once goldeneyes and other divers found mussels to be highly dependable/plentiful food source along the Lake Michigan shoreline, they stopped coming to the state’s inland lakes during fall migration. This change in waterfowl migration patterns has reduced duck hunting opportunities on many of Michigan’s inland lakes.
