The fairy shrimp is one of many species specialized for a short life cycle in seasonal ponds called vernal pools. Each winter, during the rainy season, dry depressions fill up with water and the fairy shrimp hatch. They grow to maturity over several weeks, eating algae and plankton. Before the vernal pool dries up again, the females produce hardy resting eggs, called cysts, which survive the dry season and hatch when the rains come again. This strategy allows them to avoid predators that can't survive in such a temporary habitat. It takes 41 days for a shrimp to reach maturity, after which point it must reproduce before dying at the end of the rainy season. Typically the young hatch in December and live until May, unless temperatures become too warm.