Vernal Pool Education Projects
Certification
Field Work
Outreach
Fairy Shrimp Survey
The distribution of fairy shrimp is not well known. In Massachusetts, the Vernal Pool Association is into the fifth year of our project to determine the actual species found in the state and where they might be located.
To participate in this scientific effort, you need to capture some fairy shrimp, kill them, preserve them, and mail them to our collection center. We will identify the specimens, inform you of the results, and turn the data over to the Massachusetts Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program. The specimens will be cataloged and stored in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University.
Fairy Shrimp Distribution in New England
Fairy shrimp are found only in vernal pools. You often can see them swimming "upside down" in the water as soon as the ice is thawed. They can be quite abundant for a couple of months and then gone by June. Not every vernal pool has fairy shrimp and pools which do have fairy shrimp do not always have them every year.
In Massachusetts and south to the Appalachians, the vernal fairy shrimp, Eubranchipus vernalis is quite common. In northern New England, the knob-lipped fairy shrimp, Eubranchipus bundyi is the common species. The third and final New England species, the intricate fairy shrimp, Eubranchipus intricatus is exceedingly uncommon and is known from only a few locations in Massachusetts and Vermont. It is E. intricatus in which we are most interested.
Prior to the start of our survey, E. intricatus was known from seven locations in Massachusetts. In 2003, we added four locations. 2004 yielded five new locations. The questions we are trying to answer are: 1. Is E. intricatus more common than previously shown and 2. Is E. intricatus more likely to be found in a wet year that was preceeded by dry years?
Fairy Shrimp Preservation
First, you need to catch some fairy shrimp. Sometimes, with appropriate lighting (day or night), they are visible swimming in the pool. Young fairy shrimp might be as small as 1/4 inch in length. Adults might be a bit larger than one inch. Even if you don't see any, move your net aggressively through the water trying to sweep as much volume as possible. Fairy shrimp often "collapse" in the net when you remove it from the water making them hard to distinguish from the other "stuff". You might see them better if you hold the net in the water or dump the contents into a tray of water and watching for the swimming fairy shrimp.
We need males for identification. If you can identify males, collect a few (up to six). If you can't tell male from female, collect about a dozen and we will sort them out. (Don't take too many, but we do share our specimens with other researchers and they will not go to waste.)
Kill the fairy shrimp by dropping them into ethyl alcohol (our first choice) or isopropyl alcohol. Both are available at drug stores. They will die in about a minute. Leave them in the alcohol for at least a day so that their tissues become saturated with alcohol.
Drain the alcohol from the specimens and place them in a small vial without any alcohol. Add a one inch square of tissue soaked in alcohol, replace and tighten the cap. Tape your collecting label to the vial and place the vial in a sealable plastic bag. The label should have your name, email or phone info, town collected, date collected, and an identifier for the pool. The "identifier" could be the Certified Pool number, Potential Pool number, location, or just some name you will recognize if we get back to you. We will contact you for more information if you find E. intricatus. After draining the alcohol, mail the specimens within a day.Packaging and Mailing Fairy Shrimp
Each vernal pool you sample should have its own vial for fairy shrimp. Do not mix sites in one vial. Protect each vial with bubble-wrap or other packing and place in a mailing tube or mailing box. Do not use a padded envelope as vials shipped this way are usually broken and the specimens useless for study. Remember, do not mail alcohol, include a collecting label, and mail them as soon as possible after draining the alcohol.
Mail your package to: Vernal Pool Association, PO Box 2295, Peabody, MA 01960.
If you would like some vials in a mailing tube, send an email to us. Indicate how many vials you need. A mailing tube will hold four vials.
The Fairy Shrimp Survey is organized by the Vernal Pool Association and the MA Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program with support from the Sweet Water Trust and an EPA NCER "Science to Achieve Results" Fellowship Grant.
