Aw carp thats no bueno

these were found on a jonboat at granpappy i do believe...they're here

Hopefully our friendly freshwater water GASPERGOU. AKA: Freshwater DRUM, Perch, Channel & Blue cats will be able to control them. Every time I've cleaned Gaspergou I've found small clams in their stomach and I've also found small clams in the stomach contents of smaller Blues/Channels.

If they filter so much water to make it clear, it will decimate the Shad population that most All Bass & Catfish species rely upon to sustain.

To the recreational boat guys I've lived on a houseboat and it's already a maintenance nightmare dealing with a boat that stays in the water all the time, the Hull damage, water intake & engine damage will be astronomical.

We also have the invasive Talapia that were introduced to us in the 80's as a hardy "bait" before they discovered that they flourished in our beautiful texas climate.

I need a $1B grant from the government to do a lifelong study on the investigation to see if Tilapia will eat a Zebra Mussel... and I get to call it "Work research"

[quote=Nophears]
I need a $1B grant from the government to do a lifelong study on the investigation to see if Tilapia will eat a Zebra Mussel... and I get to call it "Work research"
[quote]
LOL

Just an observation, but I think the concern is a bit overblown. I observed two things in my home lake in OK. First, the lake has pretty major seasonal water level fluctuations. When the lake is down, you see them left high and dry. They don't seem to be able to move fast enough to keep up with the water dropping when the Corps is letting out water. Secondly, I only noticed them (live ones) on the underneath sides of rocks, which tells me something must be eating them if they have to hide.

Yep, Drum love anything with a shell lol. Carp eat a lot of freshwater mussels too. I've caught them and had the carp practically dumping shell fragments on the ground, lol. Can't be too comfortable!

We have loads of fish here in TX that like shell fish. I have a couple of aquariums with native fish. I can't keep a shellfish (and I've tried) in with my pumpkinseeds, longear or Texas Cichlids. The TX Cichlids especially will make short work of any shell fish it can fit in it's mouth. Our native drum destroy small shellfish with ease. If it's clear water you're worried about, take a look at Amistad. I can see beds in 20 ft. of water in some places. This clear water allows sunlight to penetrate deep into the water allowing for non-emergent aqautic plants to flourish. I have no doubt that these things will be detrimental in some shape or form but I don't worry as much about these as I do salvinia. There are lots of non-native fish that eat nothing but muscles but I think our current natives will balance things a bit. Anyone ready for a great drum fishery? I bet we will have some monster drum coming out of this. The bass at Falcon and Amistad benefited from the Talapia buffet greatly, not to mention they're good to eat.

Well I first saw the Zebra muscles last year on texoma in the spring. Saw one attached to a rock. Durring the summer, I saw a beer can floating in the water, you could tell it was old and had been disturbed from the bottum and risen up. It had probable 10 zebra muscles floating on it. I pulled up a stick 3 weeks ago fishing in some brush I had set out had about 5 zebra muscles on it. So I'm not sure but it seems they are doing ok. I know cat fish love to eat muscles as well. If you scuba along the rock ledges of texoma you will see thousands of pearl whits shells of open muscles. I know the cat fish eat them and drum I'm sure do to. But I think time will tell on how the zebras do on texoma. But I will say this one year just DNA, next year we have found them on every end of the lake.

I'm hoping that like whirling disease was going to wipe out rainbow trout in the Rockies (it didn't); and like chronic wasting disease was going to wipe out elk, mule deer, and white-tailed deer (it hasn't); and like bird flu was going to get duck hunters (it didn't); that all of the fuss over Zebras will eventually prove to be much to do about nothing.

But only time will tell.

The big lake has avoided a devastating golden algae kill so far, so maybe it can dodge the worst effects of this environmental bullet as well.

I've seen how they multiply by the millions back home in Lake Ontario.The little sh@#t's take over fast.They I'm sorry to say might just win.I hope they don't but time will tell.We can all do our part by cleaning our boats,and doing what TPW say.

Screw those guys!

Only time will tell. I can see a few positives and a lot of negatives. It seems they are here to stay. Lets just hope something ,be it the weather or predation, keeps them in check.

Very nice photos

Toni Rudolf Vlaic

let me ask this, if they filter the water do they remove the threat from golden algae

If anybody is wondering what zebra mussels can do here is an example.This is NOT from Lake Texoma but the lake I work on up in Arkansas. This anchor got caught on my anchor.

I KNOW HOW TO GET RID OF THE ZEBRA MUSSELS: JUST TELL A Cajun THAT THEY TASTE GOOD AND IT'S ILLEGAL TO CATCH EM. THEY WILL BE GONE BEFORE YOU EVEN KNOW THEIR HERE

This could not be more false.

Dont let them tell you animals cant spread them...

Really a nice photo!

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Here's a few photos from a guide on Texoma, blue cats love em! This was only a 2 lb blue, imagine how many a big one can eat. . .

How can they digest them? I think it would eventually kill the cat.

They really break or crush easy. You can crush small ones between your fingers. Once the muscle dies the shell break down pretty fast. I have a buddy who took out clam covered with zebra's and the zebras break much easier than the clam's.

Which part was false? I don't care one way or another, that is what the Biologist told us while he checked every compartment in our boat for water. It seemed like the truth judging by all the flyers and articles posted by the locals around town talking about the devestation to thier lake and looking for solutions to the problem.

That whole pine beetle thing is probably a farce too. Those trees looked healthy and brown to me.



That iw

http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/biology/a_zm.html

A female Zebra Mussle can produce about 30,000 and 1 million eggs per year

Wonder how many shellcrackers you'd have to stock to keep the zebras at bay?