Team of experts scuba diving in California today to assess invasion of Asian mussels

A team of professional scuba divers will be diving down into Lake Pend Oreille, California, in order to examine on a closer look a recent unprecedented invasion of Asian mussels taking over the lake's waters.

Whilst this scuba diving mission will be carried out with the purpose of quelling this marine's species invasion and prevent it from further affecting the lake's ecosystem, for many it will be an exciting scuba diving experience where they will be rescuing their waters from a dangerous, quickly spreading threat.

Image by: Mark Edley, on Flickr

The Asian mussel, or "Asian clam" as they call it locally, is an aggressive, non-native species that quickly spreads through rivers, lakes and canals, overtaking native invertebrates, altering their natural habitat and spoiling recreation for those on scuba diving holidays.

The team in charge of the mussel-removing expedition is made of the Bonner Country Sheriff's Office dive team, the Idaho Department of Agriculture and the Boundary County dive team, all of whom are determined to join forces to find out more about the current distribution area of the Asian mussel in the lake's waters. The joint scuba diving mission will take place today at 10:30 a.m. local time (GMT -8 hours) or at 6.30 pm UK time.

The mussel species, scientifically known as Corbicula Fluminea, has rapidly spread throughout North America since it was first detected in the Western U.S. back in 1938.

Asian mussels can grow as large as a silver dollar, but according to local experts those found in Lake Pend Oreille are about the size of a nickel. Still, despite their small size they appear to be causing plenty of trouble and are a threat to the pristine condition of the underwater ecosystem of the lake, which currently attracts many amateur divers who come to dive down the lake during scuba diving holidays in California.

Image by: KennyCol, on Flickr

The same mussel species were found in 2002 in Lake Tahoe, the Sierra Nevada lake that goes across the California-Nevada border. At the time the mussel invasion was said to be likely inadvertently brought in by boaters.

In 2010, in order to avoid these kind of intrusive species attacking the local ecosystem, a team of scuba diving scientists unrolled long rubber mats across the bottom of Lake Tahoe coves in an attempt to prevent and diminish the Asian mussel invasion, fearing the species could cloud the world-renowned cobalt waters.

The half-acre mats are designed to smother the clams, which can reach populations of 5,000 per square yard.

Director of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center run by the University of California, Geoffrey Schladow says that the growing population of Asian mussels promote so much algae growth that they can turn some pristine coves from blue to green.

"They suck in the water and they filter out the algae. Their excretions are highly concentrated packages of nutrients," he explained.