Home of the Original Marimo Jewelry
Alright everyone. Put your muck boots on because we’re about to get knee high deep into some knowledge about the presence of Zebra Mussels found in Marimo Moss.
Around the time TLS started selling Marimo jewelry, it was 2015 and you could find Marimo everywhere: pet stores, Amazon, Etsy, and of course the ever popular eBay. However around 2021, marimo became a banned import into the US because of one particular issue: zebra mussels.
Marimo moss is actually an algae that’s primarily found in only two lakes: Lake Myvatn in Iceland and Lake Akan in Japan. Zebra mussels, while also an invasive species, they originate from Europe.
Zebra mussels were originally introduced to the US by discharged water from European boats back in the 1980’s. Because zebra mussels are an invasive species, this means there are no natural predators in our freshwater and our native species of mussels are unable to compete for food with this new species around. Zebra mussels eat phytoplankton, algae, just in case you’re not able to see where this is going. Around 2021 there was an outbreak of zebra mussels found in aquarium marimo. The US Fish and Wildlife Conservation urged people to destroy their marimo. Rather than disposing of them properly, people were discarding both Marimo and mussel, either without knowledge of their presence or on purpose (who’s to say?) back into our freshwater systems where neither of them belong and marimo was then banned from being sold. Hence why Marimo disappeared off the face of the planet for some time. But now it’s back!
How the infestation occurred has officially been documented as an instance between 3 US distributors and 1 international supplier who had been wild harvesting and importing from Iceland where zebra mussels and their cousins, Quagga mussels, are actively present.
Many individuals still associate the zebra mussel infestation with the Marimo moss they see today. Currently Marimo can only legally be imported into the US via John F Kennedy airport and Los Angeles International Airport where they are then scanned specially for their potential invasive counterparts. Anything posing a threat to our ecosystem infrastructure will be properly investigated and destroyed while those who have passed the test will continue to enter the states for distribution.
We can safely say that our Marimo (Ashley was a fanatic who bought in bulk) has been with us since 2015 and safe from any zebra or quagga mussels. Any new Marimo that should inevitably come our way would be quarantined, treated, and be last used to ensure no mussels are present.
As an entomologist we understand the importance of keeping invasive species out of any ecosystem. Thank you so much for reading and I hope this helps clear the fog around the incident.
