What triggers the eggs to hatch out?
There is a more indepth article on the survival tricks the eggs have developed over millions of years. See See ‘Eggs and babies’. But to summarise, if the eggs hatched out all at once then if there was a problem (hot spell, predator, etc.) then the whole population would die out. So only a few do at once. The first main trigger is the egg needs light on them to ensure the new born Triops can swim to safety and is not say buried under mud! Second main trigger is that the egg needs to be wet, but not just any old ‘wet’ water. The egg detects the amount of dissolved minerals in the water. Fresh rain water is usually pretty pure, this indicates to the egg that the rains have just come and the temporary pool will hopefully last for the few weeks the Triops needs to grow to adulthood and lay more eggs. Water with minerals in it usually indicates that the pool has been around for a while and so could dry up soon. This is why people often discover a few weeks into raising Triops and performing
