fairy shrimp

noun

: any of several very small translucent freshwater branchiopod crustaceans (order Anostraca)

Examples of fairy shrimp in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Winter storms battered the area, the damage worsened by a piping system installed by the military to try and preserve a fairy shrimp vernal pool on the cliff above, storm water gushing down pipes and onto the road. Laylan Connelly, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Apr. 2024 Animal adventures are just as likely here, with everything from burrows and fairy shrimp to mule deer, tortoise, and sheep. Rachel Chang, Travel + Leisure, 15 Mar. 2024 The latest blow – and possibly the reason the area has seen such drastic erosion in recent months – is believed to have come from a fairy shrimp vernal pool habitat that sits above on the cliff. Laylan Connelly, Orange County Register, 25 Feb. 2024 Each year when the snowmelt floods onto the Black Rock, tiny communities of macroinvertebrates like fairy shrimp and brine fleas come to life. Kimberley Mok, Treehugger, 8 Sep. 2023 But nothing else matches the extremophiles, animals like the dinosaur shrimp and fairy shrimp, that can lay dormant for decades. Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, 7 Sep. 2023 The project site is also important habitat for other rare species, including western spadefoot toads, Quino checkerspot butterflies and San Diego fairy shrimp, said John Buse, senior counsel for the Center for Biological Diversity, a national, nonprofit conservation organization. San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Oct. 2020 The fairy shrimp, for example, are born, mate and lay eggs in the pools created during a flash flood. Julie Jag, The Salt Lake Tribune, 2 July 2022 Divots in the dome’s surface collect rainwater to create vernal pools, which are home to fairy shrimp, tiny translucent freshwater crustaceans. Outside Online, 17 June 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1857, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of fairy shrimp was in 1857

Dictionary Entries Near fairy shrimp

Cite this Entry

“Fairy shrimp.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fairy%20shrimp. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

fairy shrimp

noun
: any of several very small translucent freshwater crustaceans

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