 The mussels filter vital nutrients from the water |
An underwater pest in Cardiff Bay could become an "expensive problem", a committee examining the cost of maintaining the bay has warned. Committee chairman Ralph Cook said the discovery of the non-native zebra mussel last year could cost Cardiff County Council "a lot of money".
The harbour authority confirmed the mussel could have a significant environmental impact on Cardiff Bay.
The council's contract to maintain the bay is due to expire in September.
Mr Cook said the new contract with the assembly government should take into account the ecological damage the shell fish could cause.
David Lowe, from Cardiff Harbour Authority, said the zebra mussel had probably arrived in the bay on a visiting boat.
The freshwater mussel can cause problems because of the rate at which it reproduces.
 | ZEBRA MUSSELS Native to Caspian and Black sea basins Transported via the bottom of boats Attach themselves to solid objects underwater Reproduce rapidly One mussel can filter up to two litres of water a day |
Each mussel can filter between one and two litres of water a day, taking away algae and other organisms which birds and fish thrive on.
Mr Lowe said: "Because they expand very quickly they could get into pipes and block it. They can have an impact in terms of the plants we have in the bay.
"They could also have an impact environmentally because they are filter feeders and they can take out algae in the water and the algae do help us with maintaining our dissolved oxygen levels in the summer."
Cardiff Council has set up a committee to examine the costs of running the bay - including the impact the mussel could have on the harbour's ecology.
Mr Cook said the council needed to make the assembly government aware it could become a "very expensive problem".
He told BBC Wales: "If it's necessary to find some method to remove the mussels - they're the size of your thumbnail and they breed in the millions.
 The mussels could have a significant financial impact |
"I don't quite understand how that can be done for a few pence - it will cost a lot of money.
"But what I'm really concerned about is not so much the mussel control, but the impact they might have on the finances of running the bay."
Mr Cook said he wanted the council's new contract with the assembly government to take into account the mussel's potential impact.
"There must be built into the contract a contingency to cover unexpected costs caused by the zebra mussel moving into the bay because I wouldn't want those costs to fall on the Cardiff taxpayers," he added.
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