Big Year species of the month

Endangered California freshwater shrimp has many colors but few streams

The Sierra Club, together with 10 other Bay Area conservation groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity and the Golden Gate Audubon Society, is co-sponsoring the 2008 Endangered Species Big Year project to increase awareness of and help protect the 33 endangered and threatened species found within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The GGNRA contains more endangered species than any other national park in continental North America. Big Year participants are encouraged to get to know these species and explore the diverse habitats of the GGNRA while helping each of the 33 endangered and threatened species that call the Park home.

For this water issue of the Yodeler, we are highlighting the California freshwater shrimp (Syncaris pacifica), declared endangered in 1988.

Motionless for long periods and nearly invisible, the shrimp is found in only 17 streams in Marin, Sonoma, and Napa Counties, according to a 1998 report. This is the only surviving native freshwater shrimp in California; its sister species, the Pasadena freshwater shrimp (Syncaris pasadenae), was last seen in 1933, a victim of the paving over of drainage channels. The other related shrimps in the atyid family in North America, the Kentucky cave shrimp (Palaemonias ganter) and the Alabama cave shrimp (Palaemonias alabamae), the latter found in only two caves, are on both the U.S. endangered and the globally critically imperiled species lists.

Only about two inches long, the California freshwater shrimp plays an important role in the ecology of these perennial lowland streams.

Hiding under ledges and overhanging vegetation and swimming among submerged roots of trees, the California freshwater shrimp collector-feeds on fine particulate organic matter and employs a number of cagey techniques to survive. Its color varies from nearly transparent to dark brown or purple; females in particular may change color rapidly between these two extremes. If a fish does manage to catch it, the shrimp will jab the top of its spine into the roof of the fish's mouth to escape.

This shrimp reproduces only once a year and produces fewer eggs than other shrimps. Throughout the winter and spring, the female swims with incubating eggs fastened to her legs, releasing the larvae after the high flows subside. Over the summer, as water levels dwindle and temperatures rise, the hardy juvenile shrimp will feast on debris from fish that have suffocated in the heat.

Many of the streams carrying the shrimp flow through private lands; existing populations are threatened by introduced fish, deterioration or loss of habitat resulting from water diversion, impoundments, livestock and dairy activities, agricultural activities and developments, flood-control activities, gravel mining, timber harvesting, migration barriers, and water pollution. Among the most successful recovery efforts are fencing projects protecting streams and their banks from grazing animals, thus allowing the return of the vegetation the shrimp need to hide under.

WhatYouCanDo

You might be able to spot California freshwater shrimp in Lagunitas Creek, which runs through Samuel P. Taylor State Park as well as the GGNRA. Salmon Creek in Sonoma County also has a relatively large population.

In addition, for the Big Year project, we have identified a personal action item for each of the 33 endangered and threatened species. To help protect the California freshwater shrimp, minimize water leaks in your home. The average person can save 5,500 gallons of water with this conservation action alone.

If you live in the Marin Municipal Water District, you can get numerous conservation tips and rebates at: www.marinwater.org (click on "Conservation" in banner near top) or by calling (415) 945-1520.

If you live elsewhere, contact your own water supplier. Even if your water system doesn't affect shrimp habitat, there are other native species you can help through your personal water conservation.

For example, in the East Bay Municipal Utilities District, go to https://portal.ebmud.com (click on "Recycling and Conserving" at left)

or call (866) 403-2683.

For the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, visit http://sfwater.org (click on "Water Conservation" at left) or call (415) 551-4730.

For more information about the 2008 Endangered Species Big Year project, visit www.ggnrabigyear.org or call Brent Plater at (415) 572-6989.

Stefanie Gandolfi and Pete Klosterman