Are triops available in NZ?

My cousins in the UK have got some! But I've never seen them here...

i had them when i was younger living over sea, they sell them as eggs and u can watch them grow kind of sea monkey/BS for kids.

i recall they have a ridiculous short life span like 90days or something so unless someone is breeding them i doubt we have any in NZ.

I guess the eggs could be sent through the post then... although its unlikely they are on the import list!

New organism I guess - Erma and all that....

Would have liked to have some as they apparently grow up to 8cm big!!

I found some live only for 50 days

one comes from australia a nice metal green one havnt figured out how to get a pic on :oops:

Triops do sound cool.

Here's a page that lists an incident where a school imported some triops eggs:

http://www.ermanz.govt.nz/no/compliance ... s0405.html

I asked Andrew Broome if he knew anything about them, and apparently there is a native relative:

"I've seen them in the US and always wanted to

have a go at them. There is a native version,

Lepidurus apus viridis. I used to see the occasional

one in ponds out at Longburn when I was a kid. They

were never common though, even then and are probably

even rarer now since many of the small, seasonal,

farm ponds have been filled in..."

Might be worth trying to locate some and have a go at breeding them....

Here's a fantastic article from 1916 in the Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand about some experiences with Lepidurus viridis:

http://rsnz.natlib.govt.nz/volume/rsnz_ ... 05150.html