The spiny waterflea, adult-sized and magnified. Photo: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Editor’s Note: It’s an Echo tradition to revisit one of our favorite holiday stories: Tim Campbell’s The Twelve Days of Aquatic Invasive Species Christmas.
Campbell rewrote the lyrics of the holiday tune for the Wisconsin Sea Grant in 2011. We’re publishing a new verse on each of the actual twelve days of Christmas.
On the ninth day of Christmas, a freighter sent to me…
Nine eggs in resting — The spiny waterflea and the fishhook waterflea produce tiny resting eggs that can survive long after the mature waterflea has perished. The resting eggs can also survive extreme environmental conditions, so it is imperative to make sure that recreational equipment is cleaned to prevent spreading these invasive crustaceans. Luckily, their Wisconsin distribution is limited to Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, the Madison Lakes, and a few other inland lakes.
Eight shrimp ‘a swarming, seven carp and counting, six lamprey leaping, FIVE BOAT-WASH STATIONS! Four perch on ice, three clean boat steps, two red swamp crayfish and a carp barrier in the city!