Comparative growth and feeding in zebra and quagga mussels (Dreissena polymorpha and Dreissena bugensis): implications for North American lakes

Abstract

In laboratory experiments, quagga mussels (Dreissena bugensis) survived as well as zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) and equaled or exceeded their growth rate (–3 to 242% change in wet mass) when reared at 6 or 23°C and fed natural seston or Chlamydomonas at food levels ranging from 0.05–7.4 µg·L–1 chlorophyll a (chl a). Superior growth of quagga mussels was most pronounced at low food levels. We found no significant differences in per capita clearance rates (CR), functional responses, or feeding behavior between zebra and quagga mussels fed Chlamydomonas, Nannochloris, or mixed suspensions of Nannochloris and clay. Per capita CR ranged from 0.018 to 0.402 L·mussel–1·h–1 for zebra mussels and from 0.010 to 0.407 L·mussel–1·h–1 for quagga mussels. Because quagga mussels had more biomass per unit shell length, we found lower biomass-specific CR for quagga mussels. When fed natural seston, zebra and quagga mussels could selectively reject inorganic material and at the lowest seston level the assimilation efficiency of quagga mussels (81%) was significantly higher than that of zebra mussels (63%). Our experiments suggest that quagga mussels can survive, grow, and feed as well or better than zebra mussels in epilimnetic waters with either low or high productivity.