Macro Life in an Ephemeral Pool at Red Rock Canyon ~ Clam Shrimp, Fairy Shrimp, Triops

Check out some raw footage of amazing underwater life in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area's ephemeral pools. All this hatched on bare, scorched rock after a storm. The creatures had only two weeks to grow up, breed, lay their eggs and die. These creatures are appearing posthumously, as most are already in bug Valhalla (see end of video.)
Corrections: the dragonfly nymph is actually a diving beetle nymph, and the "worms" are fly larvae.

[@Sara3346]

poor tadpoles were trying their very best. Hard to see this and Imagine you live in a loving universe.

[@CreepX]

Makes being human a little bit better in comparison... the big cosmic lottery was won by us already...

[@laurieb3703]

So sad at the end, but at least they existed 🥺 I would have had to sit out there for a week pouring spring water in the pool like a crazy woman. Some of my favorite animals 💞

[@finleyholiday]

My wife and daughter were with me filming and wanted to save the shrimp and tadpoles. Alas, it is the survival strategy for their species.

[@mingmingandmikki]

It was all a natural part of their life cycle. Sad it may be.

[@footfault1941]

Life! As a Japanese, those creatures are quite familiar to me in rice paddies, except clam shrimp. Here, they're captured visually & presented beautifully as they are. Personal pick is tadpole shrimp. Dried up tiny pool is sad, but as a consequence of wrong choice. Somewhere else life would have completed its cycle. Survival of the fittest. A nice piece. By the way, is it surely a dragonfly larva preying on clam shrimp? More like that of aquatic beetle...

[@finleyholiday]

Thank you. It was fascinating filming all these creatures and I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. You are correct, the “dragonfly” nymph is indeed a diving beetle nymph.

[@christopherrogers9664]

Great filming! Few people get to glimpse into these great pools. I work on and in them all over the world. A few comments: the first clam shrimp were Eulimnadia, so hermaphrodites, not females. The second one was Leptestheria compleximanus: definitely a female. The "dragonfly larva" was a larval predaceous diving beetle, probably Agabus. The "worms" were chironomid midge larvae.

[@level1skeleton317]

Absolutely my favorite creatures here in the desert, Ephemeral pool dwellers. Shame they dont live long.

[@finleyholiday]

It sure is. Creatures in the smaller pools had lives of less than a week, the big pool still has a little water 3 weeks later but not for long.

[@level1skeleton317]

@@finleyholiday Do we know how long they live in captivity? Im guessing not too much longer.

[@finleyholiday]

@@level1skeleton317 There is good information online about raising a few of these species in a tank (fairy shrimp, triops,) but even in captivity their life spans are measured in weeks.

[@level1skeleton317]

@@finleyholiday sounds about right, thanks for the info and video!

[@Foliaire]

some shots were just surreal, thank you! there wasn't much HQ documenting of vernal pools around

[@finleyholiday]

Thanks! Just did an on-camera interview in Moab with Dr. Tim Graham for an upcoming video on Moab's Ephemeral pools. Really fascinating stuff!

[@albertodelcano7241]

Thats not a nyph of a dragon fly thats a water beetle larvae

[@finleyholiday]

Yes - You know you’re nymphs! I learned that was the nymph of a diving beetle after I posted it. It caught the clam shrimp injected it with juices that dissolved it and sucked it into an empty husk within five minutes. Scary little creature.

[@cockatielcloud6069]

멋진 생태계 마치 논 같아요 한때는 물이 풍족하지만 결국 말라붙는것처럼 다만 이곳은 그 주기가 훨씬 빠르지요

[@birde6393]

those worms look like diptera larvae :o

[@matthewcamp9615]

Super cool video. Thanks for sharing 👍🏻🇺🇸

[@xxxibalba6483]

lil guys living in the soup... wonderful

[@Scp716creativecommons]

Fantastic camera work!

[@manishmandal-78]

Though it was sad at the end but a great documentary

[@finleyholiday]

Glad you like the video. Check out our Ephemeral Pools of Moab video. In-depth look at the subject. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZmapoKgpJKhaKssi=DEZhVOm2PJ_Wu4Cz

[@Muckwickett]

Beautiful video. Straight and to the point.

[@Scp716creativecommons]

Triops got me rethinking the "aquatic" nature of trilobytes.

[@bubblerings]

Sad ending... Circle of life. Wonderful footage. Wow!! Any tips on the underwater macro footage. Really well done. The Talent is all you. But, tips on how to do it at all would be welcomed. 😁🤔 I will have a plastic pool of fairy shrimp and daphnias soon.

[@bubblerings]

Subscribed!

[@finleyholiday]

Underwater macro tips: persistence and luck with these creatures - sometimes they are there, sometimes not. The footage highlights are from 6 days of filming over about 18 days starting on July 29 in Las Vegas. 108-112 degrees the whole time I was filming, laying on the rock. The creatures are too small for autofocus to work, and with a depth of field of a fraction of an inch, you have to become very proficient at tracking and manually focusing. You do need a lot of sun and light to increase your depth of field and be able to see what to focus on, especially in murky water. Practice does make way better, and I was much better at manual focus after 6 days trying to filming these little guys. Prior to getting the Laowa lens, I had a 2 gallon aquarium that I would set my camera in and push that underwater to get some really nice wide shots. Can't track focus well with that arrangement though.

[@bubblerings]

@@finleyholiday thank you for your reply, tips. I have manual lenses to add to my old sony mirrorless. To viewers: Will try extension tubes and smaller apertures, lower shutter speeds. Will use an old Ewa Marine bag. These long lenses don't work in my compact housing.. I could tell from the sound. Some shots were done with the camera body above water. Cool! 🍻👣 Cheers!

[@bubblerings]

The Takumar 50mm 1.4 hopefully will work with tubes or close-up lenses.

[@bubblerings]

@@finleyholiday You guys are Pros... And it shows! You have some other well done productions.. 👍🎈

[@henrydelightful]

beautiful!

[@michaelscott751]

Man I live in las Vegas I never know so much incredibly wildlife live in rock pools when we have a good raine fall anyways great video.

[@finleyholiday]

I was pretty shocked to see literally thousands of creatures swimming around in these pools only 5 days after a big downpour. These highlights were all filmed within 20 days as the pools dried up. The small pools were gone in a week. Daytime high averaged 112°f during that period - July 27 to August 17.

[@ainokea8916]

Awesome video great Quality

[@SimonSozzi7258]

Wow! What incredibile shots. Bravo 👏 👏 👏

[@hansel2001]

Amazing footage. Thanks for sharing.

[@JunCarlosAlberto]

Hermoso

[@anonymousperson8259]

I feel like yes it is sad to see that the little creatures couldn't go on living forever, but what if things kept multiplying and nothing died...at least in the system we are operating with currently? How crowded would it get? Also, I bet that the organic material from these pools is able to make life possible for unknown numbers of beautiful desert plants which probably give food and shade to all kids of desert animals and birds. No one likes death, including me, but we couldn't have gardens, forests and so many other things in life with out creatures giving their bodies to death. People wouldn't have limestone countertops, no chalk for chalkboards, no gas in their tanks...no food, if we didn't have a life cycle. Plus the shrimp lay eggs that are able to survive dryness, so when it rains, they'll be back.

[@theusher2893]

You'd think birds would have a field day with a pool like that.

[@TMS5100]

@1:18 shrimp p0000000p is greeeeeen

[@LoreGunjurer]

And all the triop eggs goes dorment (deep sleep). It will only hatch unless there is water.

[@robinier]

This is really cool thank you for posting. It's very helpful for learning the less glamorous crustacean groups - fairy shrimp, clam shrimp, tadpole shrimp.

[@brandonlasvegas]

😎🦐

[@PredactorX]

1:20 How big can they get?

[@zenadiamacroura5981]

How warm was the water they dwelled in?

[@WonderCoral122]

That was not a dragonfly nymph,those were diving beetle larvae,get your facts straight befor making a video

[@finleyholiday]

Yes, I figured that out after I filmed and posted it so we noted that in the description. You really know your bugs. The diving beetle nymphs are crazy predators! Check out our. new Ephemeral Pools of Moab video. Really in-depth. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZmapoKgpJKhaKssi=YazvHQ9GyS8syROc

[@WonderCoral122]

​​@@finleyholiday yes,diving beetle adults are already one of the most top-notch macroinvertabrate preditors,but their larvae are amazing too! They anchor themselves to a plant or to the ground and then they wait for something to swim by and then they use their razor sharp Mandibles to stab the prey and inject digestive enzymes.also the video is amazing! Keep up the great work❤👍