The vernal pools were just teeming with life, including these cool little branchiopod crustaceans (~2 cm long). www.flickr.com/photos/anitagould/8690475495/in/photostream shows a shot in the hand.
There are 2 sp of Eubranchipus in NJ: E. vernalis & E. holmanii (nepis.epa.gov/Adobe/PDF/P1002R0O.pdf). The latter seems to be much less common, & has been proposed for listing as a species of special concern in NJ. I'm therefore guessing this is the former, but don't know how to tell them apart, or even whether it's possible to tell the females apart.
The vernal pools were just teeming with life, including these cool little branchiopod crustaceans.
There are 2 sp of Eubranchipus in NJ: E. vernalis & E. holmanii (nepis.epa.gov/Adobe/PDF/P1002R0O.pdf). The latter seems to be much less common, & has been proposed for listing as a species of special concern in NJ. I'm therefore guessing this is the former, but don't know how to tell them apart, or even whether it's possible to tell the females apart.
Small, shrimp like body. Many small legs and large eyes. Grayish-green color with a small forked tail.
ca 2mm; found on peat of dry buttonbush swamp; sorry for the bad photos
The molts from these are common along the edges of the vernal pool
Fairy shrimp in a vernal pool. Not sure if genus- or species-level ID is possible from the photograph...anyone familiar with the region's vernal pool fauna?
vernal pool restoration site
Muskrat at Discovery pond; one water boatman and a couple of damselfly or mayfly larvae and a few fairy shrimp. Not much else in the pond.
At pond: fairy shrimp
Love the vernal pool fauna! This one was in a pothole under Shrimp Rock on the Slickrock Trail. It's getting really cold at night--these guys better grow fast...
Forked tail, so I guess it's Triops rather than Lepidurus. T. longicaudatus is the most common species in the area, so I assume that's it.
Thoughts?
in 2010 we had enough rain to fill the ephemeral pond
