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Scientists have found the oldest sample of animal sperm, concealed in a 100 million-year-old piece of amber. Paleontologists discovered the sample in the reproductive tract of an ancient female crustacean encased in resin -- one of several samples of ostracods from Myanmar. The previously unknown species of crustacean, now named Myanmarcypris hui, resembles a modern day mussel and is an example of an ostracod. Ostracods are small animals that date back some 500 million years, and can still be found in oceans, freshwater lakes and rivers. Using 3D X-ray reconstructive technology, scientists analyzed several ostracod specimens, studying their limbs and...

Idaho is poised to fight the invasion of quagga mussels, tiny little creatures that wreak tremendous havoc in waterways and water pipes. The mussels are typically introduced into new states by infected boats. The mussels produce millions of eggs that get stuck on boat hulls and in bilges. Once in a river, they move downstream. The House State Affairs Committee on Wednesday unanimously voted to print a bill sponsored by Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, requiring all boats in Idaho waters to have a special sticker that would fund prevention programs.

SALT LAKE CITY – Trouble-making zebra mussels have arrived in Utah. But not where they were expected to show up. Electric Lake is Utah's first body of water where the damaging, nonnative mussels have been confirmed, state wildlife officials said Wednesday. The officials said they were surprised the fast-spreading mussels appeared there first because it's a high-elevation lake with relatively few boaters. It is boaters who sometimes unknowingly transport the mussels from lake to lake on their crafts. Most expected the mussels to show up first at Lake Powell. The mussels "showed up in one of the least-expected places," said...

Gov. Janet Napolitano has permanently reinstated the Arizona Invasive Species Advisory Council, a group that addresses threats from non-native species such as the roof rat, the yellow star thistle and the recently discovered quagga mussel... the quagga mussel, which has caused extensive damage in the upper Midwest, was found in Lake Mead, Lake Havasu and Lake Mohave along the Colorado River... the Game and Fish Department announced that an invasive fish thought to have been eradicated in Arizona, the bighead carp, has been found in Tucson's Lake Kennedy. It grows quite large and can damage ecosystems. The department also said...

Veterans Oppose Omaha Beach Mussel Plan PARIS (Reuters) - American World War Two veterans and Normandy villagers have joined forces as they did on June 6, 1944 -- only this time the enemy is not the Nazi occupier but a bivalve mollusk best cooked in wine and served with fries. Two enterprising fishermen in the Omaha Beach area want to create a commercial mussel bed on the hallowed D-Day landing beach and even plan to use "Omaha Beach" as a brand name to sell their seafood products. "Omaha Beach is considered sacred by the veterans and by locals. This plan...