Sea-Monkeys is a marketing term for brine shrimp (''Artemia'') sold as novelty aquarium pets. Developed in the United States in 1957 by Harold von Braunhut, they are sold as eggs intended to be added to water, and almost always come bundled in a kit of three pouches and instructions. Sometimes a small tank and additional pouches are included. The product was heavily marketed in the 1960s and 70s, especially in comic books, and remains a presence in popular culture.

History

Ant farms had been popularized in 1956 by Milton Levine. Harold von Braunhut invented a brine-shrimp-based product the next year, 1957. Von Braunhut collaborated with a marine biologist, Anthony D'Agostino, to develop the proper mix of nutrients and chemicals in dry form that could be added to plain tap water to create a suitable habitat for the shrimp to thrive. Von Braunhut was granted a patent for this process on July 4, 1972. They were initially called "Instant Life" and sold for $0.49, but von Braunhut changed the name to "Sea-Monkeys" in 1962. The new name was based on their

salt-water Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has approx ...

habitat, together with the supposed resemblance of the animals' tails to those of

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

s. Sea-Monkeys were intensely marketed in comic books throughout the 1960s and early 1970s using illustrations by the comic-book illustrator Joe Orlando. These showed

humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and ''-oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. The earliest recorded use of the term, in 1870, referred to indigenous peoples in areas colonized by Europeans. By the 20t ...

animals that bear no resemblance to the crustaceans. Many purchasers were disappointed by the dissimilarity and by the short lifespan of the animals. Von Braunhut is quoted as stating: "I think I bought something like 3.2 million pages of comic book advertising a year. It worked beautifully."

Use

A colony is started by adding the contents of a packet labeled "Water Purifier" to a tank of water. This packet contains salt, water conditioner, and some brine shrimp eggs. After 24 hours, this is augmented with the contents of a packet labeled "Instant Life Eggs," containing more eggs, yeast, borax, soda, salt, some food, and sometimes a

dye A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution an ...

. Shortly after that, Sea-Monkeys hatch from the eggs that were in the "Water Purifier" packet. "Growth Food" containing yeast and spirulina is then added every seven days. The best temperature for hatching is . Additional pouches can be purchased on the official website, though these are not required for the well-being of the Sea-Monkeys. ''Artemia'' usually has a lifespan of two to three months. Under ideal home conditions, pet sea monkeys can live for a year, and some have been observed to live for up to five years.

Biology

The animals sold as Sea-Monkeys are claimed to be an artificial breed known as ''Artemia NYOS'', formed by hybridising different species of '' Artemia''. They are also claimed to live longer and grow bigger than ordinary brine shrimp; however, there are no references to these claims outside marketing material from the manufacturer. They undergo

cryptobiosis Cryptobiosis or anabiosis is a metabolic state of life entered by an organism in response to adverse environmental conditions such as desiccation, freezing, and oxygen deficiency. In the cryptobiotic state, all measurable metabolic processes stop ...

or anhydrobiosis, a condition of apparent lifelessness which allows them to survive the

desiccation Desiccation () is the state of extreme dryness, or the process of extreme drying. A desiccant is a hygroscopic (attracts and holds water) substance that induces or sustains such a state in its local vicinity in a moderately sealed container. ...

of the

temporary pool Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals. They are considered to be a distinctive type of wetland usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe ...

s in which they live. Astronaut

John Glenn John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space, and the first American to orbit the Earth, circling ...

took Sea-Monkeys into space on October 29, 1998, aboard Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' during mission STS-95. After nine days in space, they were returned to Earth and hatched eight weeks later, apparently unaffected by their travels. However, earlier experiments on ''

Apollo 16 Apollo 16 (April 1627, 1972) was the tenth crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to land on the Moon. It was the second of Apollo's " J missions", with an extended sta ...

'' and ''

Apollo 17 Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on ...

'', where the eggs (along with other biological systems in a state of rest, such as spores, seeds, and cysts) traveled to the Moon and back and were exposed to significant cosmic rays, observed a high sensitivity to cosmic radiation in the '' Artemia salina'' eggs; only 10% of the embryos which were induced to develop from eggs survived to adulthood. The most common mutations found during the developmental stages of the irradiated eggs were deformations of the abdomen or deformations on the swimming appendages and naupliar eye of the nauplius.

References

{{reflist, 30em Branchiopoda Products introduced in 1957 Toy brands Toy animals Pet equipment Buildings and structures used to confine animals Educational toys

History

Use

Biology

See also

References