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FlowCAM in Use by National Park Service Monitoring Invasive Mussels in Lake Powell
 "The Glen Canyon National Recreation Area has added some high-tech weaponry to its arsenal in the ongoing battle against zebra and quagga mussels."
Click Here for story on NPS web site
Article from Journal AWWA
 Article by Ben Spaulding: "Early Detection Can Help Eradicate Invasive Mussels"
Reprinted from Journal AWWA, Vol. 101, No. 11 (November 2009), by permission. Copyright © 2009, American Water Works Association. Permission to reproduce this document is granted for informational purposes only and does not represent or imply approval or endorsement by AWWA of any particular product or service.
Detection of Invasive Mussels Using FlowCAM® XPL
The FlowCAM can be equipped with a cross-polarized illumination option (patent pending) which can be used to detect larval-stage invasive mussel species such as Zebra and Quagga mussels (see optical diagram above).Since the skeletons of these organisms are calcareous, they will exhibit birefringence under cross-polarized light as shown in the image below.
Using the FlowCAM with cross-polarization to detect invasive species of mussels is extremely simple, saves enormous amounts of time and eliminates the human error that may be introduced through manual microscopy. Because this technique detects the larval stage (veligers) of the species, it provides for significantly earlier detection of these invasive species. Additionally, since the FlowCAM images a moving stream of sample, it has the capability to process much larger quantities of sample in a very short time, enabling detection of very sparse populations.
Zebra Mussel Veligers imaged by the FlowCAM XPL
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