Thursday November 7, 2024
SF Gate —
At first glance, the small golden mussel doesn’t look like much of a threat. When clustered on a pier or the bottom of a buoy, the brownish spheres wouldn’t draw much attention, especially as they look like several of California’s native mussel species.
But the tiny mollusks, which can reach up to 2 inches in length, are a big concern: The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California State Parks, and the California Department of Water Resources just announced the invasive species has been found in North America for the first time in the Port of Stockton in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta — and they’re already in at least one California reservoir.
In the Port of Stockton, the Department of Water Resources discovered the golden mussels during routine monitoring, according to Tanya Veldhuizen, DWR special projects section manager. Staff first noticed the mussels attached to monitoring equipment, and a closer inspection revealed more mussels clinging to nearby buoys. Later that day, more golden mussels were confirmed at O’Neill Forebay in the San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos. In an ironic twist, they were found attached to equipment to monitor for invasive zebra and quagga mussels.
The discovery means the mussels could impact the state’s drinking water facilities, as they have in other areas where they’ve taken hold, such as Brazil’s Pantanal and China’s Pearl River. In California, two-thirds of residents rely on water from the San Joaquin Delta, and officials are wary of the disruption these mussels could bring. If golden mussels were to spread widely in California, they could pose an expensive threat to the state’s extensive clean water infrastructure, like dams, canals and pipelines.