Pictures of Quagga Mussels at Lake Mead

[LovinPowell]

Do any of you Vegas guys have any other pictures of the mussels at Lake Mead? I've heard that they are really bad. Here is a picture that was posted on another site.

[dingleberry]

No, I haven't taken any shots of them, but I'll try to remember to the next time we're out. That pic you posted looks worse than typical, but it is pretty shocking when you see the numbers of shells on the rocks exposed with the continually dropping water level.

On a side note, Lovin, I hope Matt gets your boat running smoothly again. Saw him Friday morning and he mentioned it was your boat. Good luck!

[Timmy!]

Wow! So that's what they look like! How big is that clump?

[dingleberry]

Wow! So that's what they look like! How big is that clump?

I think those are covered with silt and/or dust. Their clean shells have a striped pattern (they look a lot like zebra mussels). Just a guess on my part, but I would imagine that clump is maybe 18-inches across.

[gman]

Make sure you flush the engine when you get of the lake.

[talltigeguy]

Make sure you flush the engine when you get of the lake.

They don't like it when it is 175 degrees in there, so don't worry. They also can't grow in your driveway without fresh water. Depending on who you talk to, it seems that out of the lake, they can't survive longer than about 3-17 days.

There is some major hysteria going on about this. One guy on wakeworld got turned away from his local lake because there was some water and mud on his trailer...the road to the ramp has water and mud on it. It seems in California, they don't even believe you if you say you have not been to an affected lake.

[Timmy!]

Our local lakes are doing inspections before and after you leave the water even though they haven't found any in the lake. Do they think they are magically going to show up on your boat on the way out if they haven't even seen them in the lake? The inspections are really a joke, young kids that haven't ever seen a real one before and they just take your word on everything. I understand the need to do it and I comply.

[Tequilasun]

Any good cooked up with a little butter and chives?

[hoopykat]

They are edible by humans, but since they are filter feeders and are filled with sediment, I wouldn't recommend it.

[LovinPowell]

On a side note, Lovin, I hope Matt gets your boat running smoothly again. Saw him Friday morning and he mentioned it was your boat. Good luck!

Thanks, I keep hopin it's any day now.

[LovinPowell]

Lake Powell just recently (June 29) instituted some major ramp changes in order to fight off the spread of the mussel into their waters. Hopefully it works and they keep them out, all it will take is one boater to say that they haven't been in contaminated waters and it could be in a lake near you.

[Timmy!]

In Colorado, there are 2 big lakes up in the mountains (Lake Grandby and Grand Lake) that feed the smaller ones down here on the plains and they have them but they think that the larvae can't survive the trip downstream. I don't think that I would bet money on that being true.

It cracks me up because the 2 lakes that we go to feed off of those lakes and they don't think that they will get them from there, they still think that a boat is what is going to carry them in. They won't accept each others inspection reports that they hand out after you've been cleared even though they are a form from the state of Colorado.

[Tequilasun]

They are edible by humans, but since they are filter feeders and are filled with sediment, I wouldn't recommend it.

Aren't all shellfish?

These things are going away till we learn to eat them!