Nov 12, 2025
Uncharismatic Fact of the Day
Shrimp in the desert? It's more likely than you think! In 2020 scientists discovered a new species of fairy shrimp, dubbed Phallocryptus fahimii, living in a seasonal lake in the Lut Desert in Iran. Water temperatures can easily reach 87 °F (31 °C) and the lake is prone to drying in the summer. To avoid extinction, these fairy shrimp will lay eggs which can remain dormant in the sand for over ten years, hatching only when the rains return and refill the lake.
(Image: A scientific specimin of Phallocryptus fahimii by Milan Pallmann)