Limnoperna fortunei

The Chinese freshwater mussel Limnoperna fortunei is an invasive fouling pest of water supply systems in Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and more recently, South America. It was introduced into the Rio de la Plata estuary (Argentina) in 1991, most likely by the discharge of planktonic larvae with ship ballast water. It is considered an invasion threat to North America (Ricciardi 1998) and has recently become established in California.