It is seen beside many state roads. Boll weevils and fire ants are natural spreaders. Boll weevils came from Mexico, and fire ants, native to Brazil, were brought into the Port of Mobile shortly after World War I. Fire ants cause painful bites, kill small birds and animals, and damage landscapes and pastures, as well as equipment working in them. The decrease is attributed to the advances of the boll weevil eradication program. Nutria, a rodent once valued for its fur, was introduced to South Louisiana from Argentina and Chile in the 1930s.
Nutria multiply rapidly and destroys marshes by eating the grass which holds the soil together.
They also burrows into levees and under highways. Zebra mussels got a lot of attention when they arrived in ship ballast water in 1988 in the Great Lakes area and began causing serious problems. Native to Europe's Aral, Caspian and Black Seas, they have spread to 21 states. Zebra mussels clog water intakes and damage navigational structures. Zebra mussels are found in northern Mississippi, but they have not been able to establish on the Coast.