Little Creature Finally Getting a Big Break

A rare shrimp that dwells in fast-vanishing freshwater pools of coastal Southern California is being added to the list of the nation’s most endangered plants and animals.

The San Diego fairy shrimp is known to live in only two pools in Orange County--one in a Costa Mesa park, the other in South County. It is also found in several areas of San Diego County.

Propelling the half-inch-long shrimp to the brink of extinction is its dwindling habitat--so-called “vernal pools,” seasonal ponds that once dotted Southern California’s coastal areas but have all but disappeared. Only about 200 acres of such pool habitat have survived development pressures and other disturbances, experts said.

“It’s an indicator of a habitat that is in danger of vanishing, not just from California, but from the world,” said Chris Nagano of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has approved the shrimp for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The shrimp’s new protection comes amid an unusual flurry of listings for rare plants and animals in Southern California. Two imperiled area butterflies were added to the endangered species list last month, followed by six rare plants.

The current wave of listings in part reflects the backlog that built up during a 13-month freeze imposed by Congress.

The fairy shrimp, moreover, helped spark two lawsuits by an Arizona-based environmental group, resulting in a court order that the federal government act by today to protect the shrimp.

The listing is to be posted in the Federal Register on Monday, when it will become effective.

Some environmentalists plan to stand vigil over vernal pools in San Diego County this weekend, fearing that landowners may rush to destroy the pools before Monday, said David Hogan of the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, the group that brought suit.

“There’s a window of opportunity for companies to go out and bulldoze,” Hogan said. No such vigils are planned for Orange County, where the listing is not expected to stall any development projects.

One of the shrimp’s two Orange County sites is a vernal pool in Fairview Regional Park in Costa Mesa. It was uncertain Friday if that pool is the one being restored as a joint project of the city and the Irvine Co., but an Irvine Co. official said the $27,500 restoration could help provide more habitat for the shrimp.

One peculiar characteristic of the shrimp is its ability to survive even when vernal pools typically vanish in the scorching summer heat. The eggs survive in the soil of the dried-up ponds. They sometimes stick to the feet of traveling birds and are transported to a new pool.

In all, federal experts know of 25 vernal pool complexes inhabited by the rare shrimp--in Orange and San Diego counties and in northwest Baja California. One female was found as far north as Santa Barbara County.

About 97% of the vernal-pool habitat has vanished from San Diego County, and even more is believed lost in Orange and Los Angeles counties, said Marie Simovich, associate professor of biology at the University of San Diego, an expert on the shrimp.

She said the shrimp’s potential demise signals more than the disappearance of a tiny crustacean most people will never see.

“These pools are very unique,” Simovich said.

“Yes, we care about the shrimp, but it’s more than that. It’s about maintaining functioning ecosystems.”

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San Diego Fairy Shrimp (Brachinecta sandiegonensis)

Description: Small freshwater crustacean with elongated body, large stalked eyes and 11 pairs of legs; swims upside down by beating its legs

Length: 0.4 to 0.6 inches

Reproduction: Eggs are microscopic; may remain unhatched for more than a year

Habitat: Shallow pools that fill during winter rains; two locations in Orange County

Diet: Algae, bacteria and protozoa

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service