Posted on 09/04/2023 2:09:23 PM PDT by algore
Heavy rains that poured down on 70,000 Burning Man attendees have also awoken hundreds of three-eyed 'dinosaur shrimp' from their slumber.
The small creatures, known as fairy shrimp, were encased in a thick shell for years until rainstorms drenched the Nevada festival, typically a dry wasteland, and provided an optimal environment to hatch.
The crustaceans were spotted emerging from the mud pits as revelers escaped the flooded desert and will start laying more eggs over the next week.
Fairy shrimp are known as 'living fossils' as similar forms date back to the Cambrian Period, more than 500 million years ago.
Fairy shrimps belong to the Anostraca genus, and unlike shrimps, which fall under the Decapoda genus, they don't have shells on their heads or in front of their chests.
In addition, most fairy shrimps are found to have 11 pairs of legs, while modern shrimps have eight.
The 'dinosaur' creature has two eyes and a pit organ, a third eye common among insects. The pit organ helps them detect light changes to avoid predators.
Fairy shrimps have a short life span of two to three months and live in seasonal water bodies.
Their eggs are said to have 'tenacious vitality'. They can remain in the soil for a few years before hatching in freshwater and even survive being boiled.
The shrimp originally populated the world's oceans but were forced into shallow freshwater habitats by predators.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Anchovies?
Three eyed dinosaur fairy shrimp.
Only at Burning Man.
I new the jokes we’re gonna be flying on this one!
3-eyed fairy shrimp? Aye yi yi….
This sounds like an episode from The Simpsons.
I am waiting to see if either of my sons are interested in heading out to some nearby "dry" lakebeds to look for some.
Sea Monkeys were brine shrimp. Very similar to fairy shrimp, but brine shrimp live in salt water, and fairy shrimp in fresh water (or mud I guess).
That’s it, kill the fest. Perfect excuse.
Don’t be silly! Sea monkeys smoke tiny pipes while lounging in an easy chair, perusing the evening paper.
omg.
DYING!!! I’M VERKLEMPT!!!!!!
You know, I haven’t seen a Sea Monkeys ad since Ramen became a thing.
How are they with cocktail sauce?
They are sea monkeys I think
Sentence structure could use a little work; but it caught my eye.
Which eye?
I wonder what a sample of that water would show under a microscope? We’ve brought back water samples to look under our microscope in past years so I suspect this might be very interesting.
Good question, doc; can you have your pretty assistant come help me figure it out?
I knew it. The whole fest is a dimokrat voter convention. And they’ve found a way to register new dimvoters while it’s raining.
Those 70,000 people are walking thru the lake bed and trampling them.
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