Is hydrilla harmful to fish and wildlife?
Some sport fishermen consider hydrilla a benefit to largemouth bass habitat. Some research supports this and other research suggests that largemouth bass are adversely affected when hydrilla coverage exceeds 30%. Hydrilla may have deadly impacts on eagles and waterfowl because of a type of cyanobacterial algae (aka blue-green algae) that grow on top of the hydrilla. These algae are potentially toxic to birds. It is suspected that waterfowl consume the toxic algae when they eat hydrilla and become poisoned. When eagles eat the infected waterfowl they succumb to the disease as well. More than one hundred eagle deaths are believed to be a result of the disease.
