Tinajas

Tinaja is a Spanish word that means "clay or earthen jar."

NPS Photo/J. Ellis

Tinajas

On top of the cuesta of El Morro lies many tiny, ephermal ecosystems. Tinajas are small rain-filled pools that develop in bedrock depressions created by wind and water erosion. They are completely surrounded by the bedrock, vary in size, and act seasonal water sources for a variety of creatures. Some were even artifically expanded by the ancestral Puebloans.

 

Fairy shrimp can be found swimming in the tinajas during the summer months.

Photo courtesy of Nickie Wheeler

Fairy Shrimp

Fairy shrimp is the common name for a number of species of freshwater crustaceans that can be found across the world. Like the ones found at El Morro, many of these species are specialized to live in seasonal pools of water. Just like their habitat, they have short lifecycles, hatching from and egg and reproducing in a matter of months before their home dries up. The eggs laid can withstand long periods of drought and will hatch after only 30 hours of their pool filling with rain. Some eggs may even persist through multiple cycles of wet and dry, ensuring the species will survive through periods where water was not present long enough for the shrimp to reproduce.