Shrimp living in fresh water, which was thought to be extinct in Shiga Prefecture, have been confirmed for the first time in about 100 years and are on display at the Lake Biwa Museum in Kusatsu City.
On display at the Lake Biwa Museum is a shrimp that lives in fresh water with a body length of about 2 cm.
Southern shrimps inhabit rivers and swamps in the western Japan, but their numbers are said to be decreasing due to environmental degradation, and there are no records in Shiga Prefecture except for a specimen collected in 1915, and it was thought that they were already extinct.
However, a research group at Kyoto University conducted a survey three years ago and found that southern shrimps were collected from several rivers in Shiga Prefecture, and their habitat was confirmed for the first time in about 3 years.
At the Lake Biwa Museum, about 100 southern shrimps are on display, and you can see them swimming around in the tank and eating moss and other food.
Ryoichi Tabata, curator of the museum, said, "In the places where southern shrimps were found, non-native shrimp with similar appearances have also been found, and I would like people to pay attention to the fact that their habitat is threatened by alien species."
The southern shrimps are on display until May 30th.