06-14-2008, 04:20 AM
Here is a wikipedia article that says what predators these mussels have.
Quite interesting. Perhaps the mussels would help Crawdads. Sounds stupid but hey they have been documented to eat Zebra and Quagga Mussels.
Here in Utah with our nice Crawdad population they could the mussels but that won't stop the damage. Nope, too bad.
Here is the article:
Predators of zebra mussels
"There are a number of natural predators of zebra mussel. Zebra mussels have high nutritional value (Walz, 1979) and are consumed in large quantities by [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crayfish"]crayfish[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfowl"]waterfowl[/url] and in smaller quantities by [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskrat"]muskrats[/url]. The nutritional value changes seasonally, particularly in terms of protein and carbonate content.
Crayfish could have a significant impact on the densities of 1 to 5 mm long zebra mussels. An adult crayfish consumes an average of nearly 105 zebra mussels everyday, or in all about 6000 mussels in a season. Predation rates are significantly reduced at cooler water temperatures.
Several species of fish consume zebra mussels. Of these, [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roach_%28fish%29"]roach[/url] seems to have the most significant impact on mussel densities. In some Polish lakes the diet of the roach consists almost exclusively (~95%) of zebra mussels (Stanczykowska, 1957). Despite all this, it seems that fish do not limit the densities of zebra mussels in European lakes."
[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_mussel#CITEREFMackie_et_al1989"]
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[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_mussel#CITEREFMackie_et_al1989"]I
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Quite interesting. Perhaps the mussels would help Crawdads. Sounds stupid but hey they have been documented to eat Zebra and Quagga Mussels.
Here in Utah with our nice Crawdad population they could the mussels but that won't stop the damage. Nope, too bad.
Here is the article:
Predators of zebra mussels
"There are a number of natural predators of zebra mussel. Zebra mussels have high nutritional value (Walz, 1979) and are consumed in large quantities by [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crayfish"]crayfish[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfowl"]waterfowl[/url] and in smaller quantities by [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskrat"]muskrats[/url]. The nutritional value changes seasonally, particularly in terms of protein and carbonate content.
Crayfish could have a significant impact on the densities of 1 to 5 mm long zebra mussels. An adult crayfish consumes an average of nearly 105 zebra mussels everyday, or in all about 6000 mussels in a season. Predation rates are significantly reduced at cooler water temperatures.
Several species of fish consume zebra mussels. Of these, [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roach_%28fish%29"]roach[/url] seems to have the most significant impact on mussel densities. In some Polish lakes the diet of the roach consists almost exclusively (~95%) of zebra mussels (Stanczykowska, 1957). Despite all this, it seems that fish do not limit the densities of zebra mussels in European lakes."
[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_mussel#CITEREFMackie_et_al1989"]
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[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_mussel#CITEREFMackie_et_al1989"]I
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