I finally saw a Fairy Shrimp with my own eyes! Gaylene, the Biologist from the Wildlife Heritage Foundation, who checks the Fairy Shrimp levels in the vernal pool periodically, was here at our drying pool to check levels again. I watched from the library window as she slogged through the mud and puddles of the drying slush of the pool. When she got back to the edge by the parking lot, I was there to see what she had gathered in her container.

It was full of seaweed-like “goop” with lots of little brown gnat-like things swimming around the edges. Was this what she called plankton? I looked that up on the internet. Oh my! A different world. In science, anyway, the answer to every question is a string of more questions. That must be why so much of the science information in the Book of Job is presented in question form. This knowledge cannot be squeezed into a few simple statements, especially what is beyond human understanding.

But back to the container. Slithering among this plankton were some almost transparent little eel like creatures (maybe less than half an inch long) with bright orange parts (fins? gills?) and black bulging little eyes on each side. These were the Fairy Shrimp.

You can look it up on the internet (as I originally did)–but now I saw a live one for myself. Gaylene had a microscope, and there beside the pool we balanced it on a fence post and I got a look at one of those famous Fairy Shrimp.

Now go find your own Fairy Shrimp!