TRIOPS Longicaudatus – Wikipédia

Triops longicaudatus is a kind of phyllopod crustaceans from the triopsidae family.

It is said to be panchronic because it has apparently changed for more than 200 million years. It appeared during the era of the mesozoic or the secondary era, the era of reptiles and dinosaurs.

These are freshwater animals that belong to the group of crustaceans. The name “Triops” derives from the Greek and means “three eyes”. Two of the three eyes are clearly visible, the third, simpler eye, is in depth but it is very sensitive to light. At birth (in the egg), the triops is so small that it is almost impossible to see it. Triops longicaudatus can reach 3-4 centimeters in length over a life of 90 days.

They are widespread in North America. In Canada, it is only found in the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. It is found in the United States (but not in Alaska), Mexico, Hawai, Argentina, the Galápagos Islands, the Antilles, the Pacific Islands including Japan and New Caledonia.

Triops longicaudatus lives at the bottom of temporary and hot alive water areas (between 21 and thirty first °C ) with an average depth of 1.2 m . He prefers alkaline waters and does not support a pH less than 6 ^{[ first ]} .

He swims freely but often he crawls on the bottom and hollow ^{[Ref. necessary]} .

Triops longicaudatus is an omnivorous species that can be food, insects and various organic debris. They can eat almost everything that is alive and smaller than them. Cannibalism is frequent in captivity. By eating mosquito larvae, they are useful in the fight against Western Nile fever.

Birds and frogs are among their predators.

Triops longicaudatus has developed several reproduction strategies. They can reproduce in a sexual way, but this is rare because the majority of populations are either mostly female or mainly male. The use of parthenogenesis (development from non-fucked eggs) is therefore the most commonly used strategy. Some populations are nevertheless made up of hermaphrodite individuals who fertilize each other.

It has been noted that different populations can use a different reproductive strategies and could be considered as belonging to different species or subspecies in the future.

In females, the eleventh pair of legs is modified into oviger bags in which the eggs are transported for several hours and are then released. They have a thick shell and can withstand large temperature differences as well as drought, which allows a population to survive from one season to another. To hatch, the eggs needed to have been completely dried up before being submerged in the water again. They can stay dormant for 20 years in a diapause, which could be the cause of their survival, in particular during the period of the great extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

The eggs hatch a few days after being placed on the water, and the little ones from hatch are barely visible to the naked eye. Six days after hatching they are the size of a nail.

Then a new cycle begins because in adulthood, the triops deposits its eggs in an environment composed of dust or sand, where they remain for many years, even in the absence of water and with the return of the ponds and Flaces of water after the rains, the eggs “wake up” and the little ones of the triops (larvae) are born.

Eggs Tropes are frequently sold in the trade, generally in the form of farming kits for children and also as fish for fish.