NEAR CAPE GIRARDEAU: FOUR ZEBRA MUSSELS FOUND ATTACHED TO BUOY MARKER IN MISSISSIPPI RIVER

Four zebra mussels have been found in the Mississippi River near Cape Girardeau.

"We found them at the river mile-47 marker," said Lesly Conaway, of the Missouri Department of Conservation. "We found them attached to a buoy anchor."

Conaway, a water quality specialist working with the Upper Mississippi River System Environmental Management Program (EMP), said the zebra mussels were the first found in this section of the Mississippi River.

"We'll go out next week and pull our zebra mussel monitors," said Conaway, who is a member of a field team station located at 20 South Sprigg St, which monitors fish, water quality and vegetation in and along the river.

The field station here, which was established in January 1991 and is operated by the Missouri Department of Conservation and includes a staff of six full-time members, ranging from bio~logists to an aquatic botanist.

The local office is also keeping watch for zebra mussels.

"We have eight zebra mussel monitors," said Conaway. "These are located near barge fleeting areas."

The zebra mussel, native to eastern Europe, has almost overrun the Great Lakes say conservation officials. They have been found in the Illinois River, and have shown up in other areas along the Mississippi River.

"Zebra mussels can create tremendous problems," said Robert Hrabik, a fisheries biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation's field office in Cape Girardeau. "They're usually located near barge fleeting areas. They attach to anything solid, including water intakes of power generating plants and municipal water systems. They can also smother native fresh-water mussels and may affect other wildlife adversely."