zebra mussel Hear it!

zebra mussel definition

zebra mussel

a small, European freshwater mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) that clusters densely on surfaces, clogging water-supply lines, encrusting boat hulls, etc.: it was carried to North America in the mid-1980s and has since spread through the Great Lakes

Etymology: from its striped shell

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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