This article was posted as an April Fool’s joke.

The Town of Chevy Chase’s Town Council has voted to add the Hay’s Spring amphipod, a tiny, shrimp-like creature that may or may not live near the adjacent Capital Crescent Trail, to its town seal.

The old Chevy Chase town seal (left) and updated seal (right).

“We’re glad to celebrate this totally real, authentic part of the Town of Chevy Chase’s heritage by including the majestic amphipod on our town seal,” said mayor Kathy Strom in a press conference this morning.

The Hay’s Spring amphipod will join other symbols of Chevy Chase on the town seal, including its historic houses, lush tree canopy, and ample bank statements. Town residents say the critter, whose alleged habitat may or may not be in the path of the proposed Purple Line light rail between Bethesda and New Carrollton, is an integral part of the town’s heritage.

“The amphipod has probably been a part of Chevy Chase history for centuries,” said Chevy Chase town historian Cornelius X. Hollowood V. “Records show that when the Native Americans created the trail now known as Wisconsin Avenue, they may or may not have stepped on amphipods along the way.”

When Chevy Chase was first developed at the turn of the 20th century, lushly illustrated real estate ads may or may not have included visual references to something that looked like an amphipod. A Washington Post story from 1929 notes that Montgomery County police broke up a raucous Chevy Chase house party that may or may not have disturbed amphipods that could have been nearby and were possibly sleeping.

As a nod to the amphipod’s translucence, the amphipod on the town seal will be rendered with clear paint. “The amphipod is so delicate and light-reflective, you can look directly at one and it’s as if it isn’t even there,” says biologist Dee Forestation. “It truly is a sight to behold.”

“It’s about time that Chevy Chase acknowledged its small, shrimp-like inhabitants, which truly do exist,” said resident Monet Oliver D’Place, adding, “unlike Purple Line riders, which only exist in the Maryland Transit Administration’s fallacious projections.”

In a separate vote, the Town Council narrowly defeated a proposal to make the town animal the unicorn.