Sea-Monkeys

Many young kids were duped into getting these. Yes, I was fooled and fooled badly… In the back of a comic, I tore out the ad and sent a dollar in an envelope for these awesome looking beings. I was going to watch them grow and live. I wanted that “Bowlful of Happiness.”

In a few weeks I got the package and I find out the ugly truth. They are not monkeys or little creatures with three antennas on their head. Sea-Monkeys are a hybrid breed of brine shrimp called Artemia NYOS invented in 1957 by Harold von Braunhut.

Von Braunhut, with the help of marine biologist and microcrustacean expert Anthony D’Agostino, figured out a way to treat tap water with a mix of nutrients (von Braunhut called them “magic crystals” and mixed them in a barn on his property) that would revive the shrimp in a tank at home.

When you buy a packet of Sea-Monkeys, they appear to be lifeless dust. Pour the dust (which is actually brine shrimp eggs) in a tank of purified water, and the Sea-Monkeys spring to life. They grow steadily over the next few weeks, feeding on a diet of yeast and spirulina.

Yes they are alive…but instead of the picture you see in the comic book…they are this

I am happy to say that my younger self-didn’t fall for the X-Ray Specs after the Sea-Monkey debacle.

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all. View all posts by Badfinger (Max)