Essay - Brine Shrimp Perhaps No Other Aquatic Species Contributes to Oceanic...

Brine Shrimp

Perhaps no other aquatic species contributes to oceanic ecology like the Brine *****. Brine shrimp is a form of zooplankton. It is versatile in its physical and chemical characteristics. Its hard*****ess and survivability make it very special for preservation. It is sold ***** home aquariums. ***** has a fantastic ability to adapt to vagaries of temperature, oxygen content in the water and salinities. ***** attractive to ***** aquariums is the almost chameleonic range of colors it can adopt based on *****s food intake. Brine shrimp have an elongated body and eleven pairs ***** legs. That is why they are confused with shrimp ***** the name.

***** ***** are also known as Artemia salina—which ***** more of a generic name and several varieties of brine shrimp ***** in existence. They are arthropods that belong to ***** class of crustaceans. As zooplank*****n, one can consider them a major ***** source for other oceanic life, like Daphnia ***** Copepods. The ***** shrimp lives in salt swamps, man-made evaporation ponds used to obtain ***** from the ocean and in salt lakes such as those found in the intermountain desert region of the western United States. Because of ********** high ***** tolerance, they ***** not victims to many preda*****rs. Adult artemia can tolerate salinity of up to 50 percent. This means ***** ***** are literally at home at salinities of salt *****, which varies from about 2.9% ***** about 3.5% *****. It can also tolerate salinities of the type in the Great Salt Lake, in northern Utah, which ranges between 25 and 35%. Interestingly, brine shrimp also tolerate and even thrive in a brackish water environment. While they are ***** susceptible to predators, ***** shrimp also do not have a variety to choose ***** as far as their own nourishment is concerned. Th***** contributes to their hardiness. Like many ***** primitive ***** plants this organism is attracted ***** light, rising to the surface in the daytime, ***** sinking at night. *****e positive phototaxis of ***** keeps it ***** ***** same depth as *****s prey. Phototaxis ***** be defined as locomotion in response to light. Br*****e ***** show a *****, or response to light, that is not fully understood. The adults swim away from *****, and the larval *****s swim toward it. The shrimp always orient *****selves so that their ventral surface faces the light. A pH ranging from 8 to 9 is most optimal for brine *****. This is the pH of ***** of the salt lakes ***** solar evaporation ponds in which brine shrimp naturally occur.

Environmental factors contribute greatly to the physical characteristics of brine *****. Under normal circumstances, they live almost entirely on the photosynthetic green algae, Dunaliella. The oxygen content in the water determines ***** physical appearance—which is a direct consequence of wh*****t they can consume (depending on oxygen content in the *****). With a good oxygen supply, the *****rtemia ***** a pale pink or yellow. In an abundant supply of green algae, they take on a greenish hue.