Grass Shimp

[bobdrm]

I am from MN but I did live in Cando ND for 6 years and I was woundering how the grass shimp got in the lakes in ND and SD, were thay stocked, can thay be stocked in other lakes, and were did thay come from, I have never seen them in any of our lakes thanks for anything you can tell me. you can post or E-mail me at [email protected] thanks agin and good fishing!

[fisherman-andy]

The Grass Shrimp is not native to our inland waters as far as I know in the midwest.

Are you are refering to a freshwater shrimp often called the Fairy shrimp or Gammarus (scuds, sideswimmers). There are two types of freshwater Shrimp in our interior lakes. These are the Hyella shrimp and the Gammarus shrimp. At a casual glance, the only visible difference is in their size. The Hyella never grow as large as the Gammarus. They hardly reach or grow more than 1 inch. I believe the shrimp are native to many lakes, ponds, and rivers all over the U.S.

Not all lakes can sustain large population of these shrimp and it may interfere with an ecological lake's system if introduced to a new or different lake which makes it not ideal.

What makes Devils Lake special is the water has large contents of Calcium Carbonate & Magnesium Carbonate which these shrimp needs to sustain their bodies. Add along with the correct algae & food source. Not every lake has the ideal properties to sustain these invertebrates.

These shrimp make up an sustain the Devils lake fishery with their abundance as a food source for predatory fish.