My favorite place in nature is my family lake house in Argyle, NY that my mother and step father acquired in 2012. Since I was 14 years old I've spent almost every weekend of the summer at this lake with my friends and family. At the lake I often go kayaking and swimming. One time when I was climbing out of the water onto my friends floating dock (a small square dock floating in the middle of the water used for swimmers to keep out of the highly vegetated areas) and Summit Lake Image by Devin Briggs
found an invasive species of shellfish on the underside of the
dock, unfortunately I found it with my foot and received a large cut. The species is known as a "zebra mussel", they look very similar in shape to a mussel you might find on the beach except they're about half the size and have black and white stripes on them. These mussels often clump together in shaded areas near the waters surface on things like docks and boats. The species was likely introduced from a boat that was brought from another lake to this one. Luckily they haven't seemed to harm the ecosystem in any obvious ways other than cutting my foot open.
I love the first picture! The lake looks beautiful. I spend lots of time on a lake my dad lives on here in NH in the summer, it's the best. We have mussels here, too, but they're all really small and native I think. Kayaking is good because I can look at critters like beavers and turtles and stuff without worrying about cutting my food open or yucky detritus!
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