Tadpole and fairy shrimp

[topum]

I spent half of my day today crawling on my knees around some vernal pools in the forest admiring tadpole and fairy shrimp and other crazy things that live there. And then the other half of my day reading about these little aliens. Great day.

This is a picture of a tadpole shrimp



And this is a fairy shrimp



The pictures are from the internet.

Comments

[beautesauvage13.livejournal.com]

Faery Shrimp?  What is a faery shrimp? 

I don't think I've ever seen a faery shrimp.  Tadpoles I used to catch those and take them home as pets. They eventually grew legs and escaped.  Used to catch frogs too and minnows. 

Sounds like a fun day though. 

Athena

[topum.livejournal.com]

I have just added pictures of both fairy shrimp and tadpole shrimp (not a tadpole) to the post. Check them out. Amazing creatures with a very interesting lifecycle.

[beautesauvage13.livejournal.com]

Cool little creatures.  The tadpole shrimp looks like it has a smilie face on it's head. 

I'm going to have to Google these. 

Athena

[topum.livejournal.com]

I think you want regret spending a couple of minutes reading about them. They are among the oldest surviving creatures in the world with an interesting lifecycle.