Bob's Favorite wreck

[do it easy]

Last year, I had the pleasure of diving the Lady Elgin with some of the characters from our very own MWD.

I recall that on one of the debris fields- the one that was essentially a large chunk of deck- there were lots and lots of shells around the wreck. I seem to recall that they were zebra mussel shells, especially since I can't think of any other mollusk that is so abundant around here.

Does anyone else recall these shells and know if they naturally die off in the winter time or just form piles of shells when they expire?

Yeah, I know the dive was over a year ago, but the thought just popped into my head. Maybe a research trip to the Lady Elgin is in order? We could also look for her anchor :D

[MgicTwnger]

Te Elgin is scattered between three sites, and I seem to remember seeing the anchor, but I might be wrong. Bob would know, it's his favorite wreck.
It has to be zebra shells, I can't think of what else it could be.
A dive/fishing charter captain told me that they come and go, building to a tipping point and then dying off.

[sobfrogg]

YUP Zebras is what they are. The other attraction to the Elgin is all the Gobies :)

And the anchor is by the Windless. It was the first dive I have ever done on the Elgin. If you follow the anchor chain the wrong way you end up at a very very large boulder.:)


Hey this is my 100th post what a milestone :) :) :)

[MgicTwnger]

Hey this is my 100th post what a milestone :) :) :)

Congrats!
That made me notice the number of my posts. I've gotta get a life!

[DeepDiverBob]

Last year, I had the pleasure of diving the Lady Elgin with some of the characters from our very own MWD.

I recall that on one of the debris fields- the one that was essentially a large chunk of deck- there were lots and lots of shells around the wreck. I seem to recall that they were zebra mussel shells, especially since I can't think of any other mollusk that is so abundant around here.

Does anyone else recall these shells and know if they naturally die off in the winter time or just form piles of shells when they expire?

Yeah, I know the dive was over a year ago, but the thought just popped into my head. Maybe a research trip to the Lady Elgin is in order? We could also look for her anchor :D

Yeah, I know. Old thread, sue me.

Tony, did you ever find the name of the mussels in question? I recall a boat captain telling me that everybody keeps calling them zebras, but they arent really zebras, they are something else.

[MgicTwnger]

According to Capt. Dale, the zebras (or whatever they are) die off periodically when they exhaust the food supply, then come back in a year or two.

[CaptnDale]

We used to see a lot of snails around Lady Elgin too. They were unique in that they were blue in color. I have never seen blue snails anywhere else and I have not seen them on Lady Elgin lately either.

[do it easy]

Yeah, I know. Old thread, sue me.

Tony, did you ever find the name of the mussels in question? I recall a boat captain telling me that everybody keeps calling them zebras, but they arent really zebras, they are something else.
Nope- I just recall piles of the dead, bleached shells. I'm pretty sure they were the run of the mill "zebra" mussels. I've been told that there is another invasive mussel that frequents the deeper wrecks and biker bars. I think it's called a coagulla mussel or something like that.