Heavy rains that fell on 70,000 Burning Man visitors also woke hundreds of three-eyed “dinosaur shrimp” from their slumber.
The tiny creatures, known as fairy shrimp, were encased in a thick shell for years until downpours drenched the festival in Nevada, typically a dry wasteland, providing an optimal environment for hatching.
The crustaceans were brought out of the mud puddles as partygoers escaped the flooded desert and will begin laying more eggs over the next week.
Fairy shrimp are known as “living fossils,” because similar forms date back to the Cambrian period, over 500 million years ago.
Held in the Black Rock Desert, the “self-expression” Burning Man began Aug. 27 and ran until Sept. 4, when an unusual late-summer storm turned the party into a sloppy mess with revelers trapped in the mud on their feet.
Hundreds of three-eyed fairy shrimp were spotted over the past week in the muddy landscape where Burning Man took place
The tiny creatures, known as fairy shrimp, were encased in a thick shell for years until downpours drenched the festival in Nevada, typically a dry wasteland, providing an optimal environment for hatching. Pictured is a 2017 adult shrimp in the Black Rock Desert
Fairy shrimp belong to the genus Anostraca and unlike shrimp, which fall under the genus Decapoda, they do not have shells on their heads or in front of their chests.
In addition, most fairy shrimp have been found to have eleven pairs of legs, while modern shrimp have eight.
The “dinosaur” creature has two eyes and a pit organ, a third eye common among insects. The pit organ helps them detect light changes to avoid predators.
Fairy shrimp have a short lifespan of two to three months and live in seasonal water bodies.
Their eggs are said to have ‘tenacious vitality’. They can remain in the soil for a few years before emerging in fresh water and survive even when cooked.
The shrimp originally populated the world’s oceans, but were forced into shallow freshwater habitats by predators.
The “self-expression” Burning Man began on August 27 and ran until September 4, when an unusual late-summer storm turned the party into a sloppy mess with revelers trapped in the mud on their feet.
The crustaceans were brought out of the mud puddles as partygoers escaped the flooded desert and will begin laying more eggs in the coming week
The rare species swims upside down. It lays eggs at the bottom of dry pools and remains dormant until conditions are right for hatching – and this weekend’s rain shower did just that
The species lays eggs at the bottom of dry pools and remains dormant until conditions are right for hatching – and this weekend’s downpour has done just that.
More than a half inch of rain and possibly nearly an inch of rain fell this weekend in parts of northwestern Nevada, including the area where the Burning Man festival was held, said Mark Deutschendorf, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno.
The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office confirmed a single death on Saturday, and officials said it occurred “during this rain event,” but gave few other details.
“As this death is still under investigation, no further information is available at this time,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement Saturday night.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Burning Man’s CEO said on Sunday there was “no need to panic” and described it as not an “evacuation situation.”
More than half an inch of rain and possibly nearly an inch of rain fell this weekend in parts of northwestern Nevada, including the area where the Burning Man festival was held
Despite the chaos, the hedonistic crowd made the best of the situation by organizing slip-and-slides and other unique Burning Man-esque activities.
Burning Man is set on prehistoric Lake Lahontan, a dry bottom popularly known as the playa. The soil consists of alkaline dust, which normally causes people to cough with ‘playa lung’.
But this year’s rain has created an elaborate game of mud-dwelling for scantily-clad music lovers.