A red river at the several locations has witnessed an appearance of an unwelcomed guest, it is the zebra mussel larvae and a considerable number of these have been discovered for the first time at different locations north of Wahpeton.
KFGO-AM reports the mussel was discovered on an intake screen at Fargo’s city water plant. “We didn’t expect to find any problems but we wanted to check”, Troy Hall, the Fargo Water Utility Director, said.
Zebra mussel veligers were recently found in the Red River at the Canadian border, and the mussels have historically been found near Wahpeton in the Otter Tail River, Ryckman said.
After lifting one of its intake structures from the river bank a one inch, adult zebra mussel was found attached.
“As we have said in the past, there is often little that can be done once a body of water becomes infested with an aquatic nuisance species”, Ryckman said.
Veligers’ are a menace as they pose danger to the survival of the native species; they can clog water intakes and can even sink docks and buoys with their weight.
