May 16, 2022 – Sea-Monkeys

Happy National Sea-Monkey Day! Sea-Monkeys are actually a breed of brine shrimp, developed by Harold von Braunhut in 1957. Brine shrimp live in salt lakes or salt flats, and when the water evaporates they go into a state of suspended animation. The shrimp form a kind of protective casing in this state, and then come back to life when water is added.
von Braunhut enlisted the help of a marine biologist to come up with the right mixture of nutrients and chemicals that could be added to tap water to create a viable habitat for the shrimp to live in. This mixture is top secret, kept under lock and key to this day. He initially called the product “Instant Life” and sold it for 49 cents. He changed the name to Sea-Monkeys in 1968, because of their salt water habitat and because their tails supposedly resembled monkey tails.
He heavily advertised Sea-Monkeys in comic books throughout the 1960s and 70s. He is quoted as saying he bought upwards of 3 million pages of comic book advertising a year. Sea-Monkeys can live for a year, and some have even lived for 5 years. Sets that included tanks became available in the 1960s, along with other accessories.
Sea-Monkeys went to space with John Glenn in 1998. After 9 days aboard Space Shuttle Discovery, they were brought back to Earth and hatched week later. There were apparently no negative affects from their space travels. Learn more here.