Identification of the Great Lakes Quagga Mussel as Dreissena bugensis from the Dnieper River, Ukraine, on the Basis of Allozyme Variation

Abstract

The discovery of a second dreissenid species, the quagga mussel, in the Great Lakes in 1991 prompted a search for its identity. We have identified the North American quagga mussel as Dreissena bugensis Andrusov on the basis of allozyme data and morphological characters. Further, a phenotypically distinct form of the quagga mussel found in Lakes Erie and Ontario also matches the electrophoretic profiles of the typical Lake Ontario quagga and European D. bugensis. We confirm that the white "profunda" mussel found in the deep waters of Lake Erie is a phenotype of the quagga mussel, and we conclude that the quagga mussel is D. bugensis which has been introduced from the Black Sea drainage of Ukraine.