when was the zebra mussel introduced to the us
1980s
title: Zebra mussel text: USGS Zebra mussel distribution map for full scope of invasion. Congressional researchers have estimated that the zebra mussel has cost businesses and communities over $5 billion since their initial invasion. Zebra mussels have cost power companies alone over $3 billion. From their first appearance in American waters in 1988, zebra mussels have spread to a large number of waterways, including Lake Simcoe in the Great Lakes region, the Mississippi, Hudson, St. Lawrence, Ohio, Cumberland, Missouri, Tennessee, Huron, Colorado, and Arkansas Rivers, and 11 lakes and 5 river basins in Texas. Today, the invasion continues. For instance, in 2009, the Massachusetts title: National Invasive Species Act text: of nonindigenous species that are mentioned in NISA. In 1988 zebra mussels ("Dreissena polymorpha") were found in Lake Erie, and soon after they spread to all the Great Lakes. Since then, zebra mussels can still be found in each of the Great Lakes, as well as throughout the major navigable rivers in the eastern part of the United States (including the Hudson, St. Lawrence, and Niagara Rivers). Recent reports have revealed that this species has dispersed as far as California. A native of western Russia, the zebra mussel most likely made its way to North America through the release of title: Ballast water regulation in the United States text: mussels, the Asian clam, and others) to U.S. aquatic ecosystems is more than $6 billion per year. The zebra mussel, native to the Caspian and Black Seas arrived in Lake St. Clair in the ballast water of a transatlantic freighter in 1988 and within 10 years spread to all of the five neighbouring Great Lakes. The economic cost of this introduction has been estimated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at about $5 billion. Congress passed the National Invasive Species Act of 1996 (NISA) in an attempt to control aquatic invasive species. The Coast Guard issued ballast water regulations, title: Zebra mussel text: Caspian Sea in Eurasia. Zebra mussels have become an invasive species in North America, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Sweden. They disrupt the ecosystems by monotypic colonization, and damage harbors and waterways, ships and boats, and water treatment and power plants. Water treatment plants are most affected because the water intakes bring the microscopic free-swimming larvae directly into the facilities. Zebra mussels also cling to pipes under the water and clog them. Grossinger reported it in Hungary in 1794. Kerney and Morton described the rapid colonization of Britain by the zebra mussel, first in Cambridgeshire in the 1820s, London title: Zebra mussel text: Zebra mussel The zebra mussel ("Dreissena polymorpha") is a small freshwater mussel. This species was originally native to the lakes of southern Russia and Ukraine. However, the zebra mussel has been accidentally introduced to numerous other areas, and has become an invasive species in many countries worldwide. Since the 1980s, they have invaded the Great Lakes and the Hudson River. The species was first described in 1769 by the 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