Koster and Roswell springsnails

Closeup on a cluster of what looks like grains of sand or small pebbles with a small painbrush on the upper left. Looking closer, some of the grains are actually tiny snails.

Photo By/Credit

USFWS

Date Shot/Created

09/08/2023

Media Usage Rights/License

Public Domain

Image

A fine paintbrush is used by biologists surveying for Roswell and Koster springsnails at Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern New Mexico near Roswell. Measuring in around 1.5 millimeters each, they can easily be confused as the grains of sand and tiny pebbles they're mixed in with.

Facility

Southwestern Native Aquatic Resources and Recovery Center

New Mexico Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office

New Mexico Ecological Services Field Office

Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Ecosystem

Desert

Wetland

Species

Juturnia kosteri

Pyrgulopsis roswellensis

Subject tags