The Eubranchipus grubbi or the common name the fairy shrimp comes to us from the far regions of Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Arizona, California, and lastly Czech Republic. It comes from two populations of fairy shrimp the Eubranchipus grubbi and Branchipus schaefferi.  These two species are not all the same they both have a “diverse stage” called deccondesation. On April 2000 the Eubranchipus grubii (Fairy shrimp) was first documented in Austria. Following the first recording of the fairy shrimp the whole branchiopods species was also documented. The classification or taxonomy is Kingdom Animalia Phylum Arthropod Class Branchiopod

 

Order Anostraca Family Chirocephalidae Genus Eubranchipus Species Eubranchipus grubii. They use 10 pairs of leafed shapes legs to push and swim around. Their bodies range in size from 12.7 mm and 24.5 mm. They have red brown and orange stripes on their bodies.  Their bodies are very sensitive to water pollution so they rely on vernal pools. They eat bacteria, ameba, detritus, algal cells and plankton.

 

The Fairy shrimp is also a great business to get into. Online you can buy 1,000,000 fairy shrimp eggs for only 250 dollars then sell them on your own and maybe get two times as much as what you paid. If you invest your money right in this business, It can be a multimillion dollar company for you but if you mess up somewhere along the ways you could end up bankrupt. These animals can be found in fresh water and salt water. If you live on the west coast (California) you have a better chance to get into the shrimp business.

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The head contains two digestive glands and the small lobate stomach that they empty into. This stomach is connected to the larger intestine. The haemocoel is pumped along a long tubular heart. A couple of slits allow haemocoel into the heart which is pumped out of the anterior opening the peristalsis. The nervous system has two nerve cords that run through the whole body, with two ganglia and two transverse commissures in most of the body segments. This shrimp fits in to the arthropod phylum. The phylum contains insects, crustaceans, arachnids, and myriapods.

Male shrimp possess a larger second antenna used to clasp the female during mating. Female fairy shrimp often have a brood sack on their abdomen. Hours after copulation the male fairy shrimp dies. One generation inhabits each wet period of the pool. Each instar involves molting the exoskeleton to grow more segments until they reach the 20 segments of adults. Fairy shrimp may be there for several consecutive years and absent the next.

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Author: Damien T.
Published: 4/13

Sources: www.wikipedia.com
Photo Credit:eol.org/pages/327100/overview