They are hungry, molluscs are hungry.
Thousands of historic shipwrecks in America’s Great Lakes are at risk of being lost forever because of invasive wood-destroying mussels.
The lake is home to about 6,000 shipwrecks, with some dating back to the 17th century, according to estimates from the University of Buffalo.
Quagga mussels, originally from the waters of Russia and Ukraine, are believed to have arrived in the Great Lakes in 1989 – possibly as a result of ballast discharge from an ocean liner crossing the lake.
Quagga mussel populations have exploded in the once pristine waters of the lake, where near-perfect visibility makes wrecks easy to spot even decades after they sink.
Now Quagga mussels have taken over, scientists say.
“What you have to understand is that every shipwreck is covered with quagga mussels in the lower Great Lakes,” says Wisconsin state maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen.
Quagga mussels now cover everything embedded in the Great Lakes.AP
“Everything. If you drain a lake, you get a bowl of quagga clams.”
The molluscs burrow into the ship’s timbers and eventually become so numerous, that their sheer weight can crush the rest of the ship.
There are only a few ships left that are victims of shell attacks.AP
They also produce natural acids that can corrode iron in shipwrecks, experts say.
There is currently no way to stop the relentless clams and scientists race to dig up as many ships as possible before they are eaten.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
