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'The Sea-Monkey Worship Page,' a 2-year-old Web site/labor of love operated by Canadian Susan Barclay, has also given the pets some high-tech exposure.

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With recent appearances on TV shows like '3rd Rock from the Sun,' Sea-Monkeys may be more recognizable than Pauly Shore. 'I was so crazy, I established a national icon.' 'I got kicked out they told me I was crazy,' von Braunhut says. Those memorable comic book ads? They were a last resort, after chain stores wouldn't take the bait.

Which is remarkable, considering the product's history. The store, Atamian says, lobbied hard for the rights. The kit will be sold exclusively at Kay-Bee Toy stores for a year before going nationwide.

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Now, he boasts, the product's enclosed 'Life Insurance Policy' is good for a full two years.īecause there's such a demand for new and more quirky Sea-Monkey products, ExploraToy is putting the finishing touches on 'Ocean of Wonder,' a new 8-piece set featuring a cutting-edge batch of Sea-Monkeys that turn pinkish-red from a nutrient that colors their blood. Today's Sea-Monkeys, after much tinkering, prove a hardier breed.

Together, they created the hybrid Artemia nyos - named for their New York Ocean Science laboratory in Montauk, Long Island, now in operation for more than 35 years.īack then, von Braunhut says, they were lucky if two Sea-Monkeys survived 30 days. Until, that is, he hooked up with marine biologist Anthony D'Agostino, an expert in microcrustaceans. 'Keeping them alive was a terrible struggle,' the inventor recalls. The original Sea-Monkeys, marketed under the name Instant-Life, sold in 1960 for a mere 49 cents. 'I was always interested in wildlife, and I was looking for something that would interest other people in it,' he says. Von Braunhut conceived of the idea in 1957, when he saw a bucket of brine shrimp being sold as fish food in a pet store. ('For shy Sea-Monkeys afraid of 'marriage,' this fabulous formula will give them a quick trip 'to the altar,' ' the catalog claims.) Other bizarre accessories can be ordered through the mail: Sea-Monkey Banana Treat, Red Magic vitamins and Cupid's Arrow mating powder. One is used to condition tap water another holds the eggs and a third, special food. Von Braunhut discovered a way to mix these eggs with a formula of what he refers to as 'magic crystals' so they could be brought to life by anybody with a 12-ounce container and some water.Ī bare-bones Sea-Monkey kit, which sells for about $8, comes with a small plastic tank, a 35-page handbook and three packets of 'top-secret' mixtures. Because of certain 'cryptobiotic' properties the crustacean has, it's possible to preserve their eggs so that they exist in a sort of suspended animation.

Long before the new kid-craze of electronic pets like Tamagotchi was a twinkle in somebody's hard drive, von Braunhut's Sea-Monkeys offered children an inexpensive, low-maintenance alternative to traditional animals.įor the uninitiated, Sea-Monkeys are a cousin of Artemia salina, more commonly known as brine shrimp. And why not? After all, Sea-Monkeys teach children that what they might think is science fiction may turn out to be science fact. It's proof positive, he says, that 'God-given natural splendor' can captivate generations weaned on the artifice television has to offer. To him, Sea-Monkeys are more miracle than novelty.