The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust: ‘The Quagga mussel, identified by scientists as the number one most dangerous alien species of mollusc, has been found at Wraysbury Reservoir near Heathrow Airport.

In the United States, the mussel is threatening to bring the Hoover Dam to a standstill and cut off water to Las Vegas. The Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States by volume.

Quagga mussels (Dreissena bugensis rostriformis) are less than 5cm long but breed prolifically, forming vast colonies on hard surfaces that can smother boat hulls, block pipes and potentially cause flooding.  Click here for more information  

Wildlife experts are extremely concerned about the mussels, which have been described as ‘ecosystem engineers’ because their vast capacity to filter water upsets the natural balance throughout the food web. They eat some pollutants, but they turn it into concentrated toxic excrement which can poison drinking water for people and wildlife.

The Wildfowl & Wetland Trust‘s head of conservation policy, Jeff Knott said: “This development could be devastating to British wetlands. Quagga mussels are likely to indirectly cause suffering and death for hundreds of thousands of native animals, fish and plants and cost millions of pounds in tax and water bills to protect drinking water supplies. “These tiny mussels look so innocuous, which is why it’s so difficult for boaters, anglers and other water users to avoid accidentally transferring them between water bodies when they latch onto their equipment. That’s why it’s so important for all water users to remember the motto “clean, check, dry” when they pack up their equipment to help slow the spread.”

Anyone who finds a suspected quagga mussel should report it via www.nonnativespecies.org/alerts/quaggamussel.