Sea-Monkey
From Free net encyclopedia
- For the Internet software project, see SeaMonkey.
- For the 1992 television series, see The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys.
Image:Artemia salina.jpg Sea-Monkey is a brandname of a hybrid of Artemia salina, a species of brine shrimp. These are a type of fairy shrimp—not true shrimp, but a branchiopod. The term Sea-Monkeys (sometimes unhyphenated) is a trademark used to sell them as a novelty gift. They originate in salt lakes and salt evaporation flats.
Sea-Monkeys can reproduce both sexually (requiring a male and a female) and asexually. When the eggs are laid, there are fewer males than females per "litter". This is probably because they are not needed for reproduction. Females stop reproducing with the males when the males are too few.
Sea-Monkeys have been cited in studies of DNA and sexual behavior, primarily because they are commonly available specimens.
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Commercial kit availability
They were first marketed in 1957 by Harold von Braunhut as "Instant Life", though Braunhut changed the name to "Sea-Monkeys" on May 10, 1962. Many types of Sea-Monkey kits are now available. The company produces the original Ocean View tank as well as a variety of other products. The Sea-Monkeys company is now part of Educational Insights, and is headed in 2005 by George C. Atamian.
The key observation that allowed unhatched "Sea-Monkeys" to be cheaply packaged, shipped, and handled is that, in certain easily prepared environments, they enter cryptobiosis, a natural state of suspended animation. When released into their aquarium they leave this state and hatch.
Sea-monkeys are a clever piece of merchandise. In fact, these animals are nothing more than ordinary Artemia salina presented in an 'instant life' fashion. The U.S. patent (#3,673,986) granted in 1972 describes this as "hatching brine shrimps to give the appearance of instantaneous hatching".
Basically, one adds a 'purifier package' on day one. The user is unaware that this package already contains eggs in addition to the salt. At day two, one adds the 'instant eggs package', containing epsom salts, borax and soda, in addition to eggs, yeast, and a blue dye. The blue dye is used to enhance the 'instant life' experience by making the freshly hatched animals more visible. The Sea-Monkeys seen during the second day after adding the 'eggs package' are derived from the eggs added with the 'purifier' package. The food package is a mixture of spirulina and dried yeast. The 'boost' packages mainly contain salts, which induce sexual activity in artemia.
Although Sea-Monkeys have a biological life cycle of one year, the product guarantees that the Sea-Monkeys live for up to 2 years. This should be understood as the colony being able to sustain itself for two years.
As of 2005, there are even "Sea-Monkeys" themed slot machines. Sea-Monkeys are sometimes nicknamed "Salty Simians". (monkeys are simians.)
Appearances in other media
- The popular Internet celebrity known as Lemon Demon made a song about Sea Monkeys called "Dead Sea Monkeys".
- Popular animated TV show South Park made an episode whose plot involved Sea Monkeys. In the Season 6 episode "Simpsons Already Did It", the main characters buy a collection of Sea People, who are claimed to build a civilisation in their fishtank. These however turn out to be regular brine shrimp.
- In the Family Guy episode "Let's Go to the Hop", Chris Griffin's Sea Monkeys are portrayed as a middle class family sitting down to dinner. This pokes fun at the original packaging of Sea Monkeys, which represented them as "little aquatic people". [1]
- The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys was a live-action TV series that aired in 1992. The plot revolved around three Sea Monkeys who were grown to a human size by a mad professor.