'The zebra was in heaven': How an invasive species took over the Rideau River

By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, October 3, 2018

They came. They didn’t see much — mussels have no eyes. But they sure conquered.

Zebra mussels overran the Rideau River during the past three decades, and now a study from the Canadian Museum of Nature says they lucked into a place with a full buffet, perfect water and no enemies.

Then they reproduced like mad: la revanche du berceau all over again.

André Martel saw the first arrivals in our region in the fall of 1990. He had been a PhD student when the mussels invaded Lake Erie in the late 1980s, spilled from the ballast of a ship from the Black Sea area, where they are native.

 

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/the-zebra-was-in-heaven-how-an-invasive-species-took-over-the-rideau-river

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