These nasty critters clog pipes and cut your feet. They were found in this DFW lake

The march of zebra mussels across Texas has now reached Lake Grapevine.

On Friday, Texas Parks and Wildlife announced that this invasive species has been found in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir.

A juvenile zebra mussel was found on a sampler near the southern end of the lake. Plankton samples collected by the USGS in May also found microscopic larva.

No other mussels were found at marinas or along the shoreline.

It's been more than nine years since the mussels were found at Lake Texoma and they continue to infest more reservoirs across the state.

Across Texas, five river basins and 14 lakes are now considered infested, including Lake Worth, Eagle Mountain, Lewisville, Bridgeport and Ray Roberts. Lake Grapevine is considered as positive since zebra mussels have been found more than once.

Several other lakes are suspected of having zebra mussels include Lake Ray Hubbard.

Zebra mussels have been known for attaching themselves to hard surfaces likes rocks near the shoreline and concrete intake valves. They were first found at Lake Texoma in 2009.

"They're still fairly new to Texas so the long-term effects are still sort of unknown," said Thomas Hungerford, an inland fisheries biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife. "We've seen these boom-and-bust cycles where their populations soar and then settle back to a lower level. But they can behave differently at different lakes."

Zebra mussels are believed to have arrived in the United States on the ballast water of ships. They were first found in Lake St. Clair, between Lake Huron and Lake Erie in 1988.

Since their arrival, they have slowly moved across the United States.

There was hope that the the cold water mussels wouldn't be able to survive in the heat of Texas waters but they've confounded those predictions.

While the larva can travel downstream infesting new lakes, the primary mode of movement is believed to be by boats. They can hide in the bilge water or attach themselves to an anchor, some part of the hull or even the dock lines.

That's why Texas Parks and Wildlife has been on a Clean, Drain, Dry campaign to educate boaters.

"I'm optimistic we can stop their spread but all it takes is one person that doesn't drain the water in their boat to transport them," Hungerford said. "I hope people heed the state law but I'm not sure that many people know about the law. It's so easy to go from one lake to the next in the DFW area — even in one day."

This story was originally published June 29, 2018 at 1:30 PM.