Mussels on the Move
Here are two famous shots taken by Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation fishery biologist, Hutchie Weeks. (Hutchie is now retired.) The
pictures were taken in eastern Oklahoma on I-40 near the Arkansas border.
Hutchie was a passenger and as his vehicle was passing this semi. He noted
that the equipment on the flatbed trailer was covered with zebra mussels.
The pictures above and below clearly demonstrate the capacity of zebra mussels to attach to hard surfaces. When objects harboring zebra mussels are moved from one water body to another (like on the back of a flatbed semitrailer shown here), there is a potential to spread the zebra mussels. Zebra mussels can survive out of water for days or possibly even weeks depending on the temperature and the humidity levels.

 

 

Equipment like this should be cleaned thoroughly with a high-power pressure washer, preferable with very hot water (> 140ºF), before it is allowed to be placed back in water. This should have been done before the equipment was moved. Incidents like the one depicted here are the 100th Meridian Initiative's worst nightmare.

 

 
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