What do sea monkeys eat?
Sea monkeys eat plankton, algae, yeast, and wheat flour. Sea monkeys are a modified form of brine shrimp that have been bred to live in a specific environment. Since being sold for $0.49 decades ago, these shrimp have earned their spot in childhood nostalgia and can still be found in the fishtanks of little kids all across the world. When it comes to their diet, we need to look at the actual creatures to get a better idea. Brine shrimp are little creatures that live in salty water and breed and feed in large numbers. Their life-cycle includes a stage where they live first as eggs (known as cysts) and eventually into full-fledged brine shrimp. When sea monkeys are in their cyst stage, they fully feed on their own energy reserves. The cysts act essentially as food stores for the shrimp in their first stage of development. When they first hatch, they are less than half a millimeter in size and begin feeding properly in their new environment. Wild brine shrimp exclusively eat planktonic algae, essentially microscopic plants that live in almost every drop of water. They form one of the foundational blocks of any aquatic ecosystem and also contribute to the chemistry of the water itself. Smaller creatures feed on the algae, essentially becoming the first step of energy from the sun to another biological life. The captive, or specially bred brine shrimp (sea monkeys), can eat a more varied diet. After being activated in salty water, they can be fed small particulate food. Generally, this looks like yeast, wheat flour, soybean powder, and egg yolk. The small shrimp are able to break down these foods without too much trouble.
A complete list of the foods sea monkeys eat
Sea-monkeys eat different things in captivity and in the wild. Here is a complete list of the foods sea monkeys eat:
planktonic algaespirulinasoybean powderwheat flouregg yolkyeast
What actually are sea monkeys?
[IMAGE NEEDED: Picture of a brine shrimp] Sea-monkeys are simply brine shrimp that have been specialized and bred to be sold in packages to consumers at home. In the 60s, there were huge marketing campaigns in comic books that advertised that you could “grow” your own sea-monkeys at home. The product usually contained a few packets of various things. The first packet turned water into a suitable habitat for the shrimp and had salt, water conditioner, and eggs. Another packet is later added with more eggs, food for the shrimp, and occasionally a dye. The original shrimp was said to be a cross between a few different species of shrimp, creating an all-new artificial species. Though their larger size and increased lifespan were advertised, it’s unclear if that was just marketing gab. Brine shrimp have been around for 5.5 million years and first appeared in the Mediterranian. Interestingly, they likely evolved during the “Messinian salinity crisis,” where the Mediterranian sea almost entirely dried up. During that time, the brine shrimp was able to thrive in the highly saline waters and make it through to today. Their evolutionary specialization has allowed them to live without common predators since they can survive in waters with 25%-250% salinity.
What have they been used for?
Today, brine shrimp have a few uses. Firstly, they are often used as a cheap food source for fish farms. Aquaculture has allowed brine shrimp to become a very popular food. Their popularity arises from their ability to be transported in cyst form and “revived” after a single day in the water. Being able to drop large amounts of low-maintenance crustaceans into water that is also rich in nutrients makes them a popular choice. Additionally, brine shrimp were taken to outer space on the U.S. Biosatellite 2, Apollo 16, and Apollo 17 missions, and on the Russian Bion-3 (Cosmos 782), Bion-5 (Cosmos 1129), Foton 10, and Foton 11 flights. As hardy little creatures, they were used to test various things in space. Their early use was to test cosmic radiation and the potential effects on astronauts long term. Later, they also used brine shrimp to test out hatching in space. As a result, brine shrimp are some of the first animals to have ever been born in space. From the first batch, five shrimp made it back to earth. Finally, they attempted to use the shrimp for toxicity testing in toxicological assays. Funny enough, the shrimp proved too hardy and wasn’t sensitive enough for real use. They did, however, prove useful in pollution testing and are still used today.
How do sea monkeys live in packaging for so long?
Brine shrimp possess the amazing ability to undergo a process known as cryptobiosis. Cryptobiosis is essentially a special state of life that some animals can enter into when they’re under severe enough conditions. For brine shrimp and their eggs, a lack of water can trigger this state. Once they are desiccated, they can be placed in a package, transported, and sold. This “feature” is what allows them to be used as a consumer product, but it was developed as a defense mechanism to help out in extreme survival situations. Namely, when oceans or pools dry up for long periods of time.
How do I keep them alive once they are opened?
After following the package directions, keeping sea monkeys alive is rather easy. Simply maintain their food schedule (they don’t need a lot) and ensure their water temperature is above 75 degrees and lower than 81 degrees. They can survive temps outside of this range, but they don’t prefer it, especially for hatching.
