Caption
Lampsilis siliquoidea with attached zebra mussels (
Dreissena polymorpha ), Lake St. Clair, Michigan. The introduction of zebra mussels to North America is one of the great ecological disasters of our time. Their initial entry was from ship ballast emptied into Lake St. Clair, Michigan. They rapidly spread throughout much of the Great Lakes, then into smaller inland lakes, and most recently into the Mississippi River system. The native mussels in Lake St. Clair are not reported to be completely eliminated. The part of the
