Blind Shrimp

Blind Shrimp 

Blind Shrimp discovered living in deep open wells in Sinait, Ilocos Sur, Philippines

Dr Abe V Rotor

This microscopic Crustacean was found living in deep wells in Sinait, Ilocos Sur, by Professor Juan Campus and the author in the seventies.  A classical example of speciation, this species has forever lost eyesight, now replaced by a well-developed tactile sense.  Its presence in a number of wells in the area suggests that there is a common underground river or aquifer through which this creature can pass, using a well-developed appendage which works like  catapult.  (Article published in a book,  Sunshine on Raindrops by Dr A V Rotor, 2000) 

I let the rope down as I peered,

And down the bucket disappeared;

The well is bottomless it seemed,

'Til the rope went forever limp.

I felt the bucket full and bound,

As it went down without a sound,

Until it hit a hidden spring,

As I hoped for a prize to bring.

Through the microscope's aperture,

Appeared a frail and blind creature,

With long antennae for vision

and a springtail for action.

Equally blind I could have been,

Had I not with inner eye seen

The little monster in the dark,

Counterpart of Jurassic Park.

For a lost lamb Nature pleases

To make it a new species

Now different from its own kind,

Orphaned - and forever blind! ~~