Hidden within the Pony Pastor Rapids Park, there lives a creature whose ancestors spanned
back half a billion years. Before mammals, before birds, before fish, and before dinosaurs,
they once covered the globe in the shallow warm seas. Though tiny in size, there were
some of the first crustaceans on earth. These creatures, fairy shrimp, have evolved to survive
in seasonal pools or isolated wetlands across the globe. They're usually found for only
a few weeks of the year and late springtime. We find them here, never before documented,
within the city of Richmond. They're swimming upside down. The rhythmic movement of their
legs draws water up to the mouth, bringing in food like algae, zooplankton, and bits
of small organic material. This also helps the fairy shrimp absorb oxygen. Their eyes
are seen here as black spots protruding from the head on short, flexible stalks. Look closely
at this male fairy shrimp. There are two elongated tusk-like antennae, one on each side of the
mouth. He uses these as claspers to hold the female while mating. Here's the female, easily
identified by her large, round brood sack at the base of the abdomen. This sack can
contain over 100 eggs. She can have several clutches over the one or two week course of
her life. The eggs are broadcast into the water where they settle to the bottom of the pool.
Like a dormant seed, these young eggs rest before springing to life. If late in the season,
the female produces eggs with thicker shells to withstand the drying of the pool in summer
and the freezing cold of winter. In certain settings, they can stay dormant for decades.
Here they're inactive for months until the pool floods and the habitat is revived again.
Perhaps blown in by the wind or carried on the paws of foraging raccoons, or perhaps
spread by the droppings of a salamander, fairy shrimp eggs can be transported to new homes
in the landscape. This mechanism allows these creatures to appear or disappear in a vernal
pool near you.
