Description Isabelle Xu

Habits 1/25/11
Two adaptations block 2
Special habitat
Threats to its habitat
References
Triops: Triops Longicaudatus

The Triops is a like mini horse- shoes crab like shrimp which can grow up to three inches,
and it is also known as the tadpole shrimp. It has many feathery legs under its body and its tail
ends in two points.
The Triops can be found in a vernal pool in Europe or Northwest US. The Triops live in
the pool for their entire lives (3 months) in the rainy period of the year, usually between late
spring to late summer. The Triops is cannibalistic, and will eat anything organic that is smaller
than itself, including small fish, and plants. Basically, the bigger Triops eats the smaller one.
One adaptation that the Triops has is that the eggs can survive freezing or drying up and
still hatch after 10 years. This unique adaptation allows this animal to survive for millions of
years. Another adaptation is that once the Triops hatch when the rain finally fills up their pool,
they begin to double in size daily. This is because the pool doesn’t last long, so the Triops grow
extra fast to let the next generation live on.
The habitat requirements are that the pool has to be filled with pure rain water, with
not many dissolved things in it, this insures the eggs that there was no time for predators to
establish in their pool. Also, the pool needs some sort of gravel, sand or soil at the bottom
where the Triops can dig and lay their eggs in, where no other Triops can attack them.
Some threats to the Triops habitat are acid rain, which is actually pretty rare where the
pools are. Another threat is just no rain at all or neighboring animals who find the pool. All the
Triops need to survive is rain water. Triops are very hardy creatures though with many
adaptations that helps it survive. The last threat is if the pool dries up too early for the Triops
to reproduce.
References
Pennack, Robert W. 1989. Fresh- Water Invertebrates of the United States, 3 rd Ed. John Wiley and Sons,
Inc. Print. 1/25/11
McLaughlin. “Triops longicaudatus”. Zooplankton of the Great Lakes. Oxford University Press,
Inc., 1986. Web. 1/25/11
Fox, Richard. “Triops longicaudatus”. Invertebrate Anatomy Online. Lander University, 2001.web.
1/25/11
Description Isabelle Xu
Habits 1/25/11
Two adaptations block 2
Special habitat
Threats to its habitat
References
Triops: Triops Longicaudatus

The Triops is a mini horse- shoe crab like shrimp which is cannibalistic, and eats
everything organic. One adaptation it has is that the Triops eggs can be dried up and still hatch
after 10 years. Another adaptation is that they double in size every day after they hatched.