Sea-Monkeys

Ant farms had been popularized in 1956 by Milton Levine. 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 (), An early competitor from Wham-O, Instant Fish, failed badly. Sea-Monkeys were heavily marketed in comic books throughout the 1960s and early 1970s using illustrations by Joe Orlando. These showed humanoid animals that bore 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 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. 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 have been observed to live for up to five years. As they are easy to breed and care for, brine shrimp are also often used as a model organism in scientific research to study developmental biology, genetics, and toxicology. ==Biology==

'' mating The animals sold as Sea-Monkeys are claimed to be an artificial breed known as Artemia NYOS, formed by hybridizing different species of Artemia. The manufacturer also claims that they live longer and grow bigger than ordinary brine shrimp. They undergo cryptobiosis or anhydrobiosis, a condition of apparent lifelessness which allows them to survive the desiccation of the temporary pools in which they live. Sea-Monkeys are known for their unique life cycle. They hatch from eggs that can remain dormant for years until they are exposed to water. Once the eggs are in water, they hatch into nauplius larvae, which eventually develop into adult Sea-Monkeys. The entire life cycle takes around 8–10 weeks. ==See also==