(upbeat music)
- Lake sturgeon are the largest fish
that we have in Lake Michigan.
They look the most like
a shark of anything.
They're not sharks, but the
look somewhat like sharks.
If you've ever been to Discovery
World, you can pet one.
So their skin is very rough.
They're very rare in Lake Michigan,
but they are there.
So there are 100 times more quagga mussels
in Lake Michigan, than there are stars
in the Milky Way Galaxy.
They're an invasive species.
They just came into the lake around 2000.
They really heavily changed the ecosystem
here in Lake Michigan.
They've affected fish populations,
fish feeding behavior,
and they've also really
affected water clarity.
We have this nice Caribbean
blue to the water,
which we've never seen
before in Lake Michigan.
Which it may initially seems
like a wonderful thing,
but it'd not wonderful if you're a fish
looking for food in Lake Michigan,
because that Caribbean blue color
just means that there aren't
a whole lot of nutrients
or small plankton that
the fish love to eat.
I think it's important
to be in touch with your
freshwater resources that
we rely on so heavily.
Many of us eat fish from Lake Michigan,
and those of us who don't like fish,
definitely drink our
water from Lake Michigan.
So we all have a big interest in keeping
the lake safe and clean.
