Biota of Lakes and Reservoirs - Hydro-Environmental Analysis: Freshwater Environments - page 442

FIGURE 15.30 Pipe clogged by zebra mussels. (From USACE, 2001; photograph by Peter Yates.)

(Figure 15.30), and many power plants along Lake Erie now spend more than $250,000 each year
on control (USACE 2001).

15.4.2.3 Sea Lamprey
The sea lamprey (Figure 15.31) is native to the Atlantic Coast and while generally marine, it ascends
freshwater rivers to spawn. It is presently found throughout the Great Lakes (Figure 15.32). How it was
introduced is somewhat controversial, with some indications that it was native to the Great Lakes. Its
introduction is generally attributed to the Erie Canal, which allowed its introduction to Lake Ontario. It
remained isolated from the other Great Lakes by the natural barrier imposed by Niagara Falls until the
Welland Canal was opened in 1829 to bypass Niagara Falls and provide a navigable transportation route
to Lake Erie from Lake Ontario (Aron and Smith 1971), which also allowed the sea lamprey access.
Sea lampreys are parasitic, feeding by attaching themselves to ish with their sucking mouth-
parts, and causing tissue damage with their sharp teeth. This attached and parasitic feeding often
results in the death of their prey, either directly from the loss of luids and tissues or indirectly from
secondary infection of the wound (Phillips et al. 1982; Fuller et al. 2012).
The overabundance of sea lampreys, combined with overishing, pollution, and other factors
contributed to the collapse of commercial isheries in the Great Lakes in the 1940s and 1950s

FIGURE 15.31 Sea lamprey. (From NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.)