Instead, they shift their entire focus to the “wonders of nature.” That’s right, I’m talking about Sea-Monkey sex! Sea-Monkeys reproduce constantly and it’s fun to watch them select mates and engage in the coupling process. Since you’re feeding them, they don’t need to search for food. Whoops!įor many kids, Sea-Monkeys are their first exposure to the reproduction process. As a teenager, I mistakenly assumed that the egg sacks were giant testicles. And the females have two giant egg sacks. Male Sea-Monkeys have large mating hands that are used for holding on to females while mating.

Once they mature, you can easily tell the difference in gender between fully grown Sea-Monkeys. As the Official Sea-Monkey Handbook states, Sea-Monkeys are “the world’s only living, breathing Instant-Pets®.” Fully Grown Sea-Monkeys Can Reproduce Sexually, Or AsexuallyĪre there male and female Sea-Monkeys? Yes. But 24 hours later they will be much easier to see. The cycle of drying and re-wetting triggers a biochemical reaction that induces the cyst-like egg casings to swell up, split and release the live baby Sea-Monkeys.Īccording to the manual, this makes them “real life, time travelers asleep in biological time capsules for their strange journey into the future!” At first, your Sea-Monkeys will be almost microscopic and you might need a magnifying glass to see them. This is possible because Sea-Monkey eggs exist in suspended animation until exposed to water. All you have to do is pour an Instant-Life® packet of dried Sea-Monkey instant live eggs into some treated water, and they will hatch before your very eyes. Hatching a tank full of Sea-Monkeys is as easy as making lemonade. But they do possess the power of what the Sea-Monkey manual calls “Instant Life.” Brine shrimp are just an almost microscopic type of shrimp. When it comes to brine shrimp, there’s not a lot of “wow” involved.

Dried Sea-Monkey Eggs Hatch Instantly In Water If Von Braunhut had called his product anything else besides “Sea-Monkeys,” I doubt it would have been such a hit. The name definitely makes the prospect of owning brine shrimp more exciting than it actually is. Their long body shapes reminded Harold Von Braunhut of a monkey tail, thus giving him the inspiration for the unique name “Sea-Monkeys.” D’Agostino was able to crossbreed larger brine shrimp that grow up to half an inch (15 mm) long. His products were heavily marketed to children through small ads in magazines and comic books from the 1960s to the 1980s.Īccording to the company’s marketing materials, Dr. NERD NOTE: Harold von Braunhut, the inventor of Sea-Monkeys, was also behind several other successful novelty products including the Kiyoga Agent M5 self-defense baton and X-Ray Specs glasses. That’s right, as crazy as it sounds, a marine biologist spent months breeding tiny little brine shrimp to create Sea-Monkeys! The scientific nomenclature for Sea-Monkeys is ARTEMIA SALINA but the artificially breed Sea-Monkeys are called ARTEMIA NYOS.

D’Agostino also crossbred a special hybrid species of brine shrimp that grew bigger and lived longer. In addition to creating the formulas for Sea-Monkey growth food and water conditioners, Dr. To help overcome these issues, Von Braunhut enlisted marine biologist Dr. Sea-Monkeys would need to be as big as possible so kids could look at them without optical magnifiers, like a magnifying glass.

Size: Brine shrimp are small and not that exciting when you can barely see them.

Sea-Monkeys would need to be more resilient and have higher survival rates than regular brine shrimp.

Survival Rates: Because brine shrimp are so small, even the slightest change in their environment can have major impacts.

Dead pets are bad for business so increasing the average lifespan of his brine shrimp was important.

Lifespan: Brine shrimp don’t live very long.

His Sea-Monkeys would need to come with a water purifier mixture capable of converting household tap water into an aquatic environment suitable for brine shrimp

Water: Brine shrimp need special salty water to survive.

In order for his plan to work, he would need to overcome several challenges. After Harold Von Braunhut came up with the idea for Sea-Monkeys, he realized that he would need a special breed of brine shrimp for his aquatic novelty pet.

Sea monkeys for fish food