You Don't Have to Have Big Mussels to Have an Impact‏!

In fact you can be a tiny golden mussel, about an inch in length, and have a really big impact. The golden mussel is an invasive species from China that is slowly making its way closer to one of the world's most biologically diverse regions, the Amazon River. The Amazon has more freshwater fish species than any river in the world and it also has the right temperature, calcium levels and acidity in which golden mussels thrive. These little mussels are already a big nuisance in five other South American countries with their ability to clog pipes and shut down turbines requiring hydroelectric plants to find ways to scrape them out or use chemicals to be rid of them at the cost of millions of dollars annually. The mussels do provide food for ducks and local fish but this benefit is outweighed by the negatives including the alteration of phosphorous and nitrogen levels in the water that produces blooms of toxic algae that can be deadly to aquatic creatures and humans. The little mussels have also had a devastating deadly effect on native clam species by attaching themselves onto the local mollusks, sealing them shut. For the past decade, Brazil has been working to stop the spread of the golden mussel by requiring ships headed to Brazilian ports to stop at least 200 miles off the coast and empty the ballast waters while far at sea so the larvae stay far out to sea. This hasn't been effective in stopping the golden mussel so researchers are looking into mapping the mussel's genome and engineering a virus or other "bio-bullet" that could essentially render the species infertile. The race between science and the invasive little mussels is on.