Hungarian researchers study the relationship between invasive shellfish competition and carp food choices in Lake Balaton

Two staff members of the ELKH Balaton Limnological Research Institute (BLKI), Csilla Balogh and Zoltán Serfőző, in collaboration with Jaroslaw Kobak, a researcher at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Poland, studied the competition of invasive mussels and the food preference of carp in Balaton. Researchers have shown that carp are more likely to be consumed by carp than migratory mussels based on their intrinsic value. Thus, other strategies are involved in the successful spread of mussels, rather than protection against predation. The study, which presents the results, was published in the journal Freshwater Biology, ELKH wrote. Currently, two invasive mussel species are competing to occupy Lake Balaton: the migratory mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) and the quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis). The two similar species pursue different survival strategies, of which the quagga mussels prove to be more effective. After their appearance in European and North American waters, ...