Branchinecta conservatio General illustration of a fairy shrimp, genus Branchinecta . Fairy shrimp are not known to occur in permanent bodies of water, and are dependent upon seasonal fluctuations in their habitat, such as absence or presence of water during specific times of the year. Conservancy fairy shrimp inhabit highly turbid water in vernal pools. They swim or glide upside down by means of beating movements that pass along the their 11 pairs of swimming legs in a wave-like motion from head to tail. They feed on algae, bacteria, protozoa, rotifers, and bits of detritus.
Females carry their eggs in a brood sac on their abdomen.
Eggs are either dropped to the pool bottom or remain in the brood sac until the female dies and sinks. The cyst bank in the soil may be comprised of cysts from several years of breeding. As the vernal pools refill with rainwater, in the same or subsequent seasons, some of the cysts may hatch. Early stages of fairy shrimp develop rapidly into adults. These non-dormant populations often disappear early in the season, long before the vernal pools dry up.