Another piece of artillery is available to fight invasive mussels.
Quagga mussels are an invasive species in the Great Lakes, causing problems with clogged pipes and increased water clarity. Picture: Soggydan (flickr)
In the arsenal with Biobullets is a biopesticide created by Marrone Bio Innovations Inc.called Zequanox.
The biopesticide has just gotten approval for testing at the Davis Dam in Nevada on the Colorado River where quagga mussels are getting in the way of providing electricity.
Zequanox is made of the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens. Marrone researchers found it to be more than 90 percent lethal to adult mussels and 100 percent lethal to mussel larvae. And it doesn’t kill other organisms like water fleas, freshwater shrimp or brown trout.
The product still hasn’t been approved by the EPA for commercial use, but Marrone anticipates sales late this year. If it’s approved, it could help clear pipes, boat motors and shorelines across the Great Lakes.
A strain of the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens which kills zebra and quagga mussels was discovered by Dr. Daniel Molloy at the New York State Museum laboratories. It is being prepared for commercial use under the name Zequanox by the Marrone organization in California.
Already shown to be effective in pipes, the product is being tested presently in Douglas County, Minnesota to determine its effectiveness in open water application.
I support the mussels. After all, this is change, and we’re supposed to believe in change. Furthermore, for a species which is freely expressing itself, calling it “invasive” is xenophobic. What the EPA is trying to accomplish with Zequanox is tantamount to genocide. Suppose that dolphins were clogging pipes. Would people try to exterminate dolphins? I don’t think so.