What are QMs?
View Photo… Quagga Mussels (QM) are non-native freshwater mussels from Eastern Europe that clog waterways, undermine healthy lake ecosystems, ruin boat engine cooling systems, and financially burden water resource agencies. QMs are prolific breeders that can overrun a lake causing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage annually. One female QM can spawn 1,000,000 offspring annually. QMs rapid reproduction can negatively disrupt an aquatic ecosystem in a very short amount of time. Once QMs are introduced into a waterway, there is no way to fully eradicate the species. How are QMs introduced into the water supply? Read More… • Living adult mussels adhere themselves to boat hulls, engines, and propellers and are transported from infested waters to non-infested waters; • Microscopic larval may survive in boat bilges, water tanks, bait tanks, fish tanks, the hull, and the trailer; • Aquatic plants, where adult mussels and larva live, attach themselves to boats, anchors, ropes,
