page_title: Zebra mussel
section_title: Predators
hierarchical_section_title: Zebra mussel / Ecology / Predators
context_page_description: The zebra mussel is a small freshwater mussel. The species was originally native to the lakes of southern Russia and Ukraine, but has been accidentally introduced to numerous other areas and has become an invasive species in many countries worldwide. Since the 1980s, the species has invaded the Great Lakes, Hudson River, and Lake Travis.
  The species was first described in 1769 by German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas in the Ural, Volga, and Dnieper Rivers. Zebra mussels get their name from a striped pattern commonly seen on their shells, though it is not universally present. They are usually about the size of a fingernail, but can grow to a maximum length around 2 in. Shells are D-shaped, and attached to the substrate with strong byssal fibers, which come out of their umbo on the dorsal side.
context_section_description: Research on natural enemies, both in Europe and North America, has focused on predators, particularly birds (36 species) and fish (15 and 38 species eating veligers and attached mussels, respectively).
  The vast majority of the organisms that are natural enemies in Europe are not present in North America. Ecologically similar species do exist, but these species are unlikely to be able to eliminate those mussels already established and have a limited role in their control. 
  Crayfish could have a significant impact on the densities of 1- to 5-mm-long zebra mussels. An adult crayfish consumes around 105 zebra mussels every day, or about 6,000 mussels in a season. Predation rates are significantly reduced at lower water temperatures. Fish do not seem to limit the densities of zebra mussels in European lakes. Smallmouth bass are a predator in the zebra mussels' adopted North American Great Lakes habitat.
caption: Drawing of zebra mussel, showing the byssus
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