However, a large range of shell morphologies is seen, including a distinct morph in Lake Erie that is pale or completely white.

The quagga mussel is a filter feeder; it uses its cilia to pull water into its shell cavity through an incurrent siphon, where the desirable particulate matter is removed.

Free-swimming veligers drift with the currents for 3 to 4 weeks feeding by their hair-like cilia while trying to locate suitable substrata to settle and secure byssal threads.

[4] In 2019, the genome of a quagga mussel from the Danube River in Austria was sequenced, revealing how larvae use a system of intercellular 'cleavage cavities' and an expanded set of aquaporin transmembrane water channels for osmoregulation in low-salinity freshwater environments during the early stages of their development.

[5] Quagga mussels are presumed to have originated in the Ukrainian section of the Black Sea and probably began to spread further into eastern Europe in the 1940s.

The quagga mussel was first observed in North America in September 1989, when it was discovered in Lake Erie near Port Colborne, Ontario.

[15][16] The introduction of both dreissenid species into the Great Lakes appears to be the result of ballast water discharge from transoceanic ships that were carrying veligers, juveniles, or adult mussels.

Water clarity increases light penetration, causing a proliferation of aquatic plants that can change species dominance and alter the entire ecosystems.

As the waste particles decompose, oxygen is used up, water acidity increases (decreased pH), and toxic byproducts are produced.

[18] Each coin-sized quagga can filter up to a liter of water per day, stripping away the plankton that for thousands of years directly and indirectly sustained the native fish.

These major biofouling organisms can clog water-intake structures, such as pipes and screens, therefore reducing pumping capabilities for power and water-treatment plants, costing industries, companies, and communities.

[24] In 1994, invasive-species biologist Anthony Ricciardi determined that North American yellow perch found the invasive dreissenid species palatable.

While this sounds like good news, the problem is that this feeding process introduces contaminants into the food chain, notably Clostridium botulinum.

Although quaggas are edible for humans, eating them is not recommended due to the accumulation of toxins, pollutants, and microorganisms within the mussels' bodies.