Zebra (Dreissena Polymorpha) and Quagga (Dreissena Bugensis) mussels are two species from the genus known as Dreissena. Both of these mussels look very similar, but when you give them a closer look you can tell the differences between the two. The zebra mussels are triangular and have a flat side and sharp edges. Quagga mussels have rounder sides and do not have sharp edges. They also have dark rings on the shell and are kind of pale near the edge. .
These two mussels are found mostly in the great lakes, also found inland lakes and waterways in twenty states, as well as Ontario and Quebec. The landed there after strong water currents hit transoceanic ships that were carrying vilegers, juveniles, or adult mussels. They could've also come form-fishing activities that let them be transported over land this could be hard, knowing that mussels aren't able to live out of the water for long periods of time. (Richerson, 4).
The quagga mussel is originally from the Dneiper River drainage of Ukraine. It was first seen at the great lakes in September 1989. The first quagga was found by Port Colborne in lake Erie. It was named quagga mussel, after an extinct African relative of the zebra named quagga. (Richerson, 2), (Richerson, 4). .
The zebra mussel is a small fresh water bivalve. It's originally from the Caspian Sea region of Asia and was discovered in 1988 at lake Sainte-Claire in Ontario.
(Pennsylvania Sea Grant, 1).
Methods.
In the experiment my lab partner and I followed the protocol as explained. We sorted out 20 zebra mussels and 20 quagga mussels. We looked to the physical differences in each set of the shells. We then measured them and took down the measurements of each set. We used the millimeter scale to measure them and we made sure we measured then from the furthest edge to the furthest edge.
Results.
After measuring each mussel the mean value was found. The quagga were generally larger than the zebra mussels a significantly.
