Zebra Mussels

Prettyboy, Liberty and Loch Raven reservoirs will be reopened to boat fishermen this year by the Baltimore Department of Public Works, which had banned boats last spring while evaluating a potential problem with zebra mussels."

HORN POINT - The sturgeon, a huge fish whose jagged armor makes it a likely inspiration for a legendary Chesapeake Bay monster, is appearing again in the bay and other waterways where it was once nearly extinct. A 6 1/2 -foot-long, 115- pound Atlantic sturgeon was accidentally netted by commercial fishermen this month as they hunted for striped bass near the mouth of the Potomac River in Virginia's part of the bay. The fish is so powerful that, even in its tank, a single swipe of its tail rocked the pickup truck researchers used to drive it to the University of Maryland lab here in Dorchester County.

Preservationists who want a logging ban on city reservoir land argued last night with industry representatives who favor cutting trees under careful supervision.At issue at a public hearing at Loch Raven High School was a task force report on watershed management at three city-owned reservoirs: Loch Raven and Pretty Boy in Baltimore County, and Liberty, which straddles Baltimore and Carroll counties. The report recommends that logging be phased out over five years, except for diseased or damaged trees that are a threat to safety.

Prettyboy, Liberty and Loch Raven reservoirs will be reopened to boat fishermen this year by the Baltimore Department of Public Works, which had banned boats last spring while evaluating a potential problem with zebra mussels."

This fall is turning out to be the deadliest yet for loons, ducks and other birds that encounter a natural outbreak of a rare form of the nerve toxin botulism in Lake Erie. Ward Stone, director of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation Pathology Laboratory in Delmar, N.Y., which studies the dead birds, said that over the last two weeks his staff had picked up more than 5,500 birds along the shores of Lake Erie in western New York, between Buffalo and Dunkirk, including 126 loons, 4,500 long-tailed ducks, geese, grebes, mergansers, scaups and many types of gulls.

Officials of the Maryland B.A.S.S. Federation and the American Bass Association have formed a coalition they hope will be able to assist in solving the problems of boat fishermen at Prettyboy, Liberty and Loch Raven reservoirs.Prettyboy and Liberty reservoirs have been closed to boat fishing since the season opened March 1. Loch Raven Reservoir, which is scheduled to open on April 3, might allow only rental boats from its fishing center.The Baltimore City Department of Public Works, which controls the fishing permits boaters must have in order to fish the reservoirs, recently decided not to issue permits this year until it can find a way to ensure the reservoirs will not be infested with zebra mussels.

CLEVELAND - The latest threat to the fragile health of Lake Erie doesn't come from chemical spills, algae blooms or raw sewage.It comes from a gray, 6-inch fish.This is a fish with an appetite - for the eggs of other fish and for mussels that clean the water.It's a fish that reproduces faster than a high-tech photocopier - capable of spawning every 20 days and overwhelming similar species that provide key links in the food chain.It's a fish that wasn't supposed to be here - but hitched a ride on a transatlantic freighter from the Black or Caspian Sea.Meet the round goby, an aggressive, bottom-feeding fish with buglike eyes and thick lips that make it look as though it's smiling.

Over the centuries, mariners have wondered how mussels manage to stick so tightly to the sides of ships. Researchers at Purdue University say they might have figured out the mussels' secret: They extract iron from seawater to create their glue. The results could help scientists create new superglues and develop nontoxic paints to rid ship bottoms of barnacles and other pests. Their four-year study analyzed the adhesive created by 800 blue mussels collected off the Maine coast - the kind that grow about four inches long and are staples at many East Coast seafood restaurants.

Remember Jerry Breen, the 46-year-old graphic artist who was arrested and fined $70 for eating an Egg McMuffin on a Metro train? We haven't heard the last of him. He's still fighting this thing, and wants his money back. (Breen was also fined $100 for not appearing in court to answer the original eating-on-a-train charge, plus $20 in court costs.) He goes to District Court for trial Nov. 22. The courthouse is located on Wabash Avenue, right near a Metro stop. So, Jerry, a little advice: If you plan on taking the train, don't leave the house without a good breakfast.

Two years ago, officials bubbled with piscatorial pride when Frederick County angler Ron Lewis set a state record with a 67.1-pound blue catfish caught on the Potomac River. "Mr. Lewis's historic catch illustrates Maryland's superb year-round fishing opportunities," said Department of Natural Resources Secretary John Griffin in a news release. With great fanfare, the enormous fish was relocated to a new home in the big tank at Bass Pro Shops at Arundel Mills, where it is still the biggest thing swimming around.