Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas, 1771)

Filtrador

D. polymorpha se alimenta filtrando partículas en suspensión, principalmente algas unicelulares, son capaces de filtrar hasta un litro de agua al día (Alcántara de la Fuente, 2006). La selección de las partículas filtradas tiene lugar en el epitelio de los palpos labiales y de las branquias. Todos los materiales son colectados en la cavidad del manto y posteriormente expulsados por vía del segundo sifón (Jiménez-Mur, 2003).

Global Protection: Unknown whether any occurrences are appropriately protected and managed

Zebra mussels can be very important in freshwater ecosystems. If they are enough of them, they can filter an enormous amount of plankton out of the water. This changes the flow of energy in the foodweb -- the energy in the phytoplankton goes to the bottom, to the mussels and the animals that eat them, instead of swimming plankton predators like zooplankton and fish.

Also, if zebra mussels clear the water, sunlight can penetrate deeper into the water, allowing more aquatic plants to grow. These plants provide food and hiding places for fish and invertebrates.

Zebra mussels attach to the outside of North American freshwater mussels. They slow the larger mussel down, interfere with its growth, sometime jam the shell open, and prevent the large mussel from feeding and pumping water in and out of its shell. Where zebra mussels have moved into the Great Lakes basin, native mussels have been wiped out.

The introduction of zebra mussels into many areas of the world has created major economic problems.

The mussels grow on all kinds of man-made structures in the water, include water intake pipes for drinking water plants and power plants. So many grow there that they clog the pipes. Businesses and governments spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year to clear out the mussels and keep the pipes open. Mussels also grow on navigational buoys, sometimes sinking them, and on locks and dams, interfering with their operation. They grow on hulls of boats and ships, slowing them down and clogging engine intakes.

The ecological impacts of zebra mussels are still happening, and not all the effects are known. They eat phytoplankton faster than zooplankton in the water does. This means zooplankton and the fish that live in the open water (like walleye, salmon, and lake trout) have less to eat. Also, zebra mussels don't like to eat certain kinds of toxic blue-green algae. When zebra mussels have spread to inland lakes in North America, the amount of this toxic type of algae increases.

See the references for more information on the many ecological effects of zebra mussels, especially in North America.