Mussels

It's a spring-like morning at Lake Casitas and bass anglers sense that any day now the quarry they're so passionate about will begin to rise and aggressively feed. But anticipation of a new season is tempered because these anglers may soon be informed they can no longer launch their fancy boats at this spacious Ventura County reservoir. And the thought all of those fish going unhooked is so distressing that some would do almost anything to prevent this from happening.

The recent discovery of a destructive, exotic mussel in Lake Mead has put California officials on high alert for the invader, which can cause millions of dollars worth of damage to water pipes and foul aquatic ecosystems. The Jan. 6 find of quagga mussels in Lake Mead signals its western arrival, an event that wildlife and water officials have been trying to avert. "This is the first infestation in the West.

A destructive mussel found earlier this month in Lake Mead now has been discovered at intakes for the aqueduct system that carries water from the Colorado River to Southern California, raising fears that the invasive species could inflict costly damage to pipelines, aquatic life and waterways in California.

An invasive mussel first detected in California less than a year ago has surged across the state's southern counties, stirring concern that its spread will inflict costly damage to public water systems and fisheries statewide. The infamous fresh-water quagga mussel, which has wreaked havoc in the Great Lakes, multiplies so quickly and prolifically that it forms large masses that can clog water pumps, pipelines, power plant intakes and farm irrigation lines.

There's an uproar over the infamous freshwater quagga mussel at Klondike Lake, one of the few patches of water in the sprawling Owens Valley open to motorized recreation. In an effort to keep the prolific, destructive bivalve from surging into the Los Angeles aqueduct system, the city's Department of Water and Power banned the use of personal watercraft (such as Jet Skis) and recreational boats on the 160-acre lake -- and installed a fence around it.

Folks headed to Crowley Lake for Saturday's opening of the Eastern Sierra trout-fishing season have received an earful about quagga mussels and the importance of keeping them out of the reservoir. They've been ordered to remove wetness and debris from vessels and trailers, or risk being turned away. They've been mandated to complete a survey explaining where they've been. The dragnet has been spread as far south as Bishop -- where the Vons/Kmart parking lot serves as an inspection station -- for an alien mollusk that may be more feared than Moses Black and Leander Morton.

The "glue" that saltwater mussels use to cling to rocks is made of proteins cured with iron filtered from ocean water -- a discovery potentially useful to adhesive makers, shippers and dentists -- a chemist said. "These animals appear to use iron in a way that has never been seen before," Purdue University chemist Jonathan Wilker said. The sticky filaments, or "beard," that a mussel excretes through its "foot" affix it to surfaces as slippery as Teflon.

State and county health officials are warning people not to eat mussels caught for sport along the coast, including Ventura County. Testing has revealed elevated levels in mussels of a toxin called domoic acid, said Debra Borsos, a spokeswoman for the Ventura County Environmental Health Division. Domoic acid is produced by sea algae, which are eaten by mussels and other shellfish.

The annual mussel quarantine will be extended until Oct. 31, an Orange County Health Care Agency official said Friday. During the quarantine, sport harvesting of mussels for human consumption is prohibited, the agency's Larry Honeybourne said. Deadly poisons might be present in mussels, clams, oysters and scallops, he said. Between 1927 and last year, California recorded 521 cases of paralytic shellfish poisoning, including 32 deaths.

State and Ventura County health officials have issued a quarantine on mussels taken off the California coast through October because of hazardous levels of toxins found in the shellfish. The annual quarantine is intended to protect the public from paralytic shellfish poisoning, which can result from the higher levels of domoic acid found in mussels this time of year, said the Ventura County Environmental Health Division.