Color patterns vary, with only dark or colored shells or no stripes. They are typically found attached to objects, surfaces, or each other by threads underneath the shells. Although similar in appearance to the quagga mussel, the two species can be easily distinguished. When placed on a surface zebra mussels are stable on their flattened underside while quagga mussels, lacking a flat underside, will fall over.

Português: Variação no padrão de cor do mexilhão-zebra

Native Great Lakes unionid mussel encrusted with zebra mussels.
GLERL, 1996.
Date
15 May 2013, 12:36

Dreissena polymorpha Retrieval of zebra mussel-encrusted Vector Averaging Current Meter near Michigan City, IN. Lake Michigan, June 1999. Photo by M. McCormick.
Obtained from http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/photogallery/Waterlife/pages/0192.html

The Unionidae are a family of freshwater mussels, the largest in the order Unionida, the bivalve molluscs sometimes known as river mussels, or simply as unionids.[1][2]

The blue mussel (Mytilus edulis), also known as the common mussel,[1] is a medium-sized edible marine bivalve mollusc in the family Mytilidae, the only extant family in the order  Mytilida, known as "true mussels". Blue mussels are subject to commercial use and intensive aquaculture. A species with a large range, the blue mussel leaves empty shells that are commonly found on beaches around the world.

Sagittunio nasutus, the eastern pondmussel, is a species of freshwater mussel in the family Unionidae, the river mussels.[

Vitta zebra, commonly known as the zebra nerite, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Neritidae.[

Native Great Lakes unionid mussel encrusted with zebra mussels.
GLERL, 1996.
Date
15 May 2013, 12:36