Quagga "The Quagmeister" Mussel. Photo: USGS.

Quagga “THE QUAGMEISTER” Mussel

Legal name: Dreissena rostriformis bugensis

Home Turf: Ukraine, Ponto-Caspian Sea.

U.S. Fighting Debut: September 1989 near Port Colborne, Lake Erie.

Agent: Ballast water

Preferred fighting arena: All five Great Lakes.

Weight/Size class: Reaching sizes up to 4 cm – but they are often larger than zebra mussels.

Fighting Skills:

- This fella is highly adaptable.

- As ravenous water filters they suck up phytoplankton and water particulates starving out creatures higher up on the food chain that depend on them.

- By filtering water they increase water clarity, which can cause an increase of aquatic plants.

- This competitor loves to cling to hard surfaces like water pipes, inhibiting the water flow to these structures. But it can exist anywhere like lake bottoms.

- Quaggas gather toxins in their systems. When eaten by predators these toxics are passed up the food chain.

Life Expectancy: Three to five years.

Offspring: Up to one million eggs per year.

The sea lamprey takes on the alewife. Photo: U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Sea “THE GREEN LAMP-REY” Lamprey Legal name: Petromyzon marinus

Home Turf: Atlantic Ocean, New York and Vermont’s Finger Lakes and Lake Champlain

U.S. Fighting Debut: 1830s by way of the Lake Ontario canals and locks

Preferred fighting arena: All five Great Lakes

Agent: Canals and locks

Weight/Size class: 18 to 24 inches

Fighting Skills:

- Primitive and predacious behavior.

- Lampreys latch on to their opponents and suck the life out of them.

- They spend more than a year picking lake fights with unsuspecting fish.

Life Expectancy: From 6 to 20 years

Offspring: Lampreys produce many babies, but they only lake fight as adults.