Zebra Beach Traditional Cache
Hayooz: Since area is now becoming a place that's difficult to cache without muggles, this one being archived.
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(micro)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
There is parking alongside the road - just west of the cache location. This is a beach, however you will want to wear some type of foot covering for the short walk to the cache.
Room for log only, so BYOP.
This cache was named for all the zebra mussel shells that are at the location.
Zebra mussels, which invaded North American in 1998, have caused serious economic and environmental problems. They spread rapidly from the Great Lakes region in to many inland waterways and are found in 23 states.
Egg production starts when the water temperature warms to about 54° (12° C), usually in early May along Lake Erie. The eggs are fertilized outside the shell and within a few days hatch into free-swimming larvae. Zebra mussels continue producing eggs until the water cools below 54°, generally in October. A fully mature female mussel can produce over 30,000 eggs per season.
Any firm surface that's not toxic will be colonized by zebra mussels. Rock, metal, wood, vinyl, glass, rubber, fiberglass, paper, plants, other mussels--the surface needs only to be hard. Beds of mussels in some areas of Lake Erie now contain over 30,000 and sometimes up to 70,000 animals per square meter.
The feeding method of zebra mussels points to one of the growing concerns in regard to Lake Erie's food chain. Each adult mussel is capable of filtering about one liter of water per day. They also remove plankton which is vital to forage fish which support Lake Erie's sport and commercial fisheries
Lake Erie's beaches are also likely to be impacted as sharp-edged shells accumulate along swimming beaches, the soft, warm sands which attract recreationalists may no longer be so appealing.
Out of the water, adult zebra mussels appear very hardy. With their shells closed, they can survive drying for several days. In moist environments. they can survive out of the water even longer.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)