Dreissena Disaster.

The article examines the threat the Dreissena polymorpha, or zebra mussels, pose for the Great Lakes and other northeastern waters as of 1991. In cities on Lake Erie, water intake pipes provide ideal feeding grounds for the stripe-shelled bivalves, which sift microscopic nutrients from passing water. Flushed into Lake Saint Clair, which lies sandwiched between Lakes Erie and Huron, the immigrant mollusk has spread into all five Great Lakes and other inland waters, including the Erie Canal and the New York State Barge Canal. If allowed to take over and despoil these species' spawning grounds, the mollusks could jeopardize the walleye fishing industry (valued at $900 million a year in Lake Erie alone) and thwart efforts to reintroduce lake trout to the Great Lakes, just as the trout have begun to recover from massive predation by another Great Lakes invader, the sea lamprey.