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Zebra mussels.. and now for something completely different



    Allot of hype and hysteria... now a few facts...

> Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 18:12:44 -0700
> From: Robert H <robertph at best_com>
> Subject: RE: Aquatic Plants Digest V3 #1356

> > > Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 11:56:50 EDT
> > From: Moontanman at aol_com
> > Subject: Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V3 #1355
> >
> It would be wrong, and quite illegal to ship them anywhere, infected or
> not. When you are trying to irradicate a pest, you don't introduce
more....
>
    Not going to ship them.
    Who is trying to irradicate them? There is a classic exercise in
futility. I do believe the programs aimed at zebra mussels are designed to
slow and control their spread which is inevitable.
> > easily transferred as some would have us believe they would have already
> > taken over the earth a long time ago. Most aquarium inhabitants are the
> > scourge of the earth somewhere.
> Simply not true

    How is this not true?

> > Any plant or animal allowed to escape into
> > the wild outside of it's natural habitat has the potential to overrun
> that
> > ecosystem.
>
> Again not true. There are more non invasive species than there are
invasive
> ones
>
    Again, how is this not true? What is the quantifiable value of "more"?
Take a closer look at your favorite forest and count the number of non
native species and the total number of individuals for each species. You
might be surprised to find that the above claim may not be true. My ecology
class just sampled a forest and collected data over the last three weeks.
One of the most startling finds was that 43% of the species were non native
and in some layers and successional stages accounted for 68% of the total
number of individuals. I'm willing to go out on a limb and bet this might
hold true for lakes and other kinds of communities as well.

>  there may be hope yet, in some area's some native fish have
> > started to acquire a taste for zebra's.
> Really? Name one!
>
    Aplodinotus grunniens- drum fish
    Cyprinus carpio- carp
    Acipenseridae- sturgeon family
>  Let's be careful with all our plants
> > and animals and adhere to the slogan "Once caught, once bought, never
> > released)"
> >
>
> A better motto would be, be respectfull of the enviornment and follow the
> laws of the land
> > Moon
> >
     the "respectful of the environment" motto is extremely ambiguous and
rather meaningless.
    "Once caught, once bought, never
released)" is much clearer and more practical in application. It is a better
motto.

> I think you are missing the point here, Moon. Zebra Mussles are filthy
> parasites that reproduce and spread very easily

    Zebra mussels are not parasites, they are secondary consumers.