quagga mussel

noun

plural quagga mussels

: a small, freshwater, lamellibranch mollusk (Dreissena rostriformis synonym Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) native to the Dnieper river and its tributaries that has been introduced into the Great Lakes and other waterways where it colonizes and clogs water intake pipes, competes with native fish for food, and disrupts food webs by consuming phytoplankton

The mussel-coated debris is unmistakable evidence of an event occurring silently and largely out of sight—the colonization of the Colorado River by the quagga mussel, a fingernail-size Eurasian bivalve with an astonishing sex drive and a nasty reputation for causing economic and ecological havoc.

—John Collins Rudolf

Less than four years after that reassuring report, quagga mussels have gone from a rare find on the bottom of Lake Michigan to its dominant invasive mussel. Along the way, they have done what many invasion biologists thought would be impossible: They have nearly annihilated Lake Michigan's zebra mussel population.

—Dan Egan

Examples of quagga mussel in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Once quagga mussels invade, few solutions exist to eradicate them. —Shi En Kim, AZCentral.com, 13 Mar. 2026

First, invasive filter-feeding zebra and quagga mussels arrived in the Great Lakes from Eastern Europe and multiplied over decades, eventually monopolizing the nutrients and plankton that fish need to survive. —CBS News, 11 Mar. 2026

Shipwreck hunters have been searching the lakes with more urgency in recent years out of concerns that invasive quagga mussels are slowly destroying wrecks. —Todd Richmond, Chicago Tribune, 15 Feb. 2026

However, the ones already in the Great Lakes, like zebra and quagga mussels and the emerald ash borer, are still causing substantial ecological and economic harm. —Caitlin Looby, jsonline.com, 23 Jan. 2026

From Centennial Park to Shoshone Falls, two segments of the river — divided by Pillar Falls — tested quagga mussel-free this year, officials said. —Idaho Statesman, 12 Sep. 2025

The ship’s resting place deep underwater helped preserve key features, like bow clamps and belaying pins, by limiting the growth of invasive quagga mussels, as noted in the release. —Sophia Compton, FOXNews.com, 15 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

after zebra mussel, the quagga mussel being less markedly striped, and hence comparable to the quagga in relation to the zebra

First Known Use

1991, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for quagga mussel

• bustle
• hustle
• muscle
• russel
• rustle
• trussell
• tussle
• mofussil