var arrayFacts = [
"Productive Reproducers:
Female zebra mussels can produce 30,000 to 1,000,000 eggs per year. The perfect water temperature for zebra mussel reproduction is between 12 to 26 degrees Celsius.
Males cannot produce sperm unless the water temperature is this warm! It also helps if there is a certain amount of calcium in the water. Without calcium, the shell of the zebra mussel will be very weak.
As long as the water temperature remains within this range, zebra mussels can spawn over and over, creating up to as many as 1 million babies per year.",
"American and Endangered:
Dwarf wedge mussels are the only freshwater mussels with two teeth on the right valve and one on the left.
These freshwater mussels can be found in the United States, but are endangered in ten of the states that they call home.
Dwarf wedge mussels have been endangered since 1990.",
"Summer Love:
The only thing that is known about dwarf wedge mussel reproduction is that it occurs late each summer.
Wedge mussels can be found in slow rivers and creek streams with muddy, gravelly, or sandy bottoms.",
"Cutting the Cord:
Mussels can reproduce both sexually and asexually. When mussels reproduce, sperm is released by male mussels into the water.
Female mussels use the current of the water to siphon in the sperm. After the eggs enter the larvae stage, they will be moved to the gills of the female mussel.
The oxygen enriched water pumped through the gills will help the larva grow.
The mussel larvae will eventually break out of the female and will become parasitic as they attach themselves to the gills of other fish in the sea.",
"Don't Know What You've Got 'Till It's Gone:
Archaeological sites show that mussels were once a food source for Native American tribes that lived along streams. The area that once had the largest population of mussels was located in Puget Sound.
Unfortunately, urbanization and introduction of other, non-indigenous species to their habitat have led to the decline in the mussel population. In fact, it has almost been destroyed.",
"Good Bye Clubshell!
Clubshell mussels bury themselves beneath loose gravel and sand located along the bottom of rivers.
The farthest they will bury themselves is 4 inches beneath the surface. Clubshells were once common in freshwater rivers and streams from Michigan all they way down to Alabama and from Illinois all the way to West Virginia.
Today, they only live in about 12 streams because pollution has destroyed much of their habitat.",
"Dangerously Endangered:
Freshwater mussels are the most endangered species in the United States and are very close to becoming wiped off the earth entirely.
Over 70% of all freshwater mussel species located in the United States are either already extinct or on the verge of extinction.
The greatest threats to the population of mollusks include the removal of plant life in their habitat, pollution, loss of host fishes for parasitic larvae, and changes in water temperature and quality.",
"Foreign Invasion:
From their first appearance in American waters in 1988, zebra mussels have spread to a large number of waterways, including the Mississippi and Hudson rivers, greatly damaging local ecosystems.
Zebra mussels are destructive because they have been introduced into foreign environments. These mussels will feed on native mussel food, starving native species and threatening their entire environment.",
"Invasive and Expensive:
The zebra mussel is considered a harmful invasive species in parts of scandinavia and north america, as they kill the local unionid mussels, damage harbors, boats, and power plants.
Zebra mussel damage has cost North America billions of dollars each year, illustrating the costly effects of invasive species.",
"Great Lakes in Danger:
Scientists now believe that zebra mussels are responsible for the loss of some native aquatic invertebrates, an important food source for many fish in the Great Lakes.
The declining populations of fish will bring grave consequences to the entire Great Lake ecosystem, the extent of which only time will tell."];