fairy shrimp - Streptocephalus sealii

Moved

Moved from Brine Shrimp and Fairy Shrimp.

… Brady Richards, 16 July, 2012 - 10:31pm

Moved

… Brad Barnd, 14 July, 2012 - 9:23pm

Dexteria?????????

Both are females - need MUCH better shots of the head (and some males). I've heard several reports of "blooms" of branchiopods in Wakulla County following the rains of TS Debby - we had 24" (61 cm) here ...

Dexteria is a problematic identification, since it has been declared "extinct" ...

… J. H. Epler, 14 July, 2012 - 11:10am

Streptocephalus sealii

Better pix from Dave show that this critter is Streptocephalus sealii.

… J. H. Epler, 16 July, 2012 - 7:59am

Don't let USFWS hear you saying that they declared it extinct

as they are very adamant that that's not their job and that that's not what they did. They claim something to the effect of there being no real evidence that it's extant, rather than that that there is good evidence that it's extinct.

… David Almquist, 14 July, 2012 - 9:09pm

Streptocephalus seali

Not so. The USFWS has not declared Streptocephalus seali to be either extinct or endangered. They have placed a species of Streptocephalus, namely Streptocephalus woottoni, on the endangered list, but it is obviously not this one. There are many species of fairy shrimp in the genus Streptocephalus, just as there are many fish, for example, in the genus Percina. The renowned snail darter, Percina tanasi, is one such species and it was once classified as endangered (now listed as threatened), but many other representatives of the genus are NOT listed in either category.

I am personally very familiar with S. seali, having studied them on FEDERAL property where they are enormously abundant and having developed methods for collection of their eggs from pond soils. These crustaceans can provide a valuable seasonal food source for fingerling bass and other carnivorous fish species propagated on fish hatcheries. Their springtime population explosions happily coincide with the time of year when hatchery-raised largemouth bass need plenty of live food of appropriate size in order to grow to stockable sizes.

… JPCrowder, 7 February, 2013 - 9:20am

Dexteria, not Streptocephalus, is what I was referring to

when I mentioned USFWS. See John's comment above.

… David Almquist, 7 February, 2013 - 9:30am

I was going for full shots of them rather than diagnostic ones

but I just posted two cropped head shots and will try to get better male head shots tonight.

… David Almquist, 14 July, 2012 - 11:51am

still can't tell

These are much better shots - BUT because I'm no expert on fairies I can't really say much more without actual specimens under my scope, where I can dissect out the second antennae and frontal appendages. The new shots do appear to rule out Dexteria, but ... these critters aren't my bailiwick!

… J. H. Epler, 14 July, 2012 - 12:05pm

I wasn't really expecting an ID from these,

although that would be cool, but posted them more for a gestalt of live ones for after specimens are ID'd.

… David Almquist, 14 July, 2012 - 12:26pm