Sea-Monkeys

pets · tiny creatures · vintage toys

Actually brine shrimp. Sea-Monkeys are a marketing name for creatures called Artemia, which are real brine shrimp found in salty water around the world.

Come as eggs. Instead of buying live pets, you get special egg packets that you add to water, and tiny shrimp hatch out within days.

Created in 1957. An American inventor named Harold von Braunhut came up with the idea of selling brine shrimp as novelty pets and started using the Sea-Monkeys name in 1962.

Comic book stars. Sea-Monkeys became super famous in the 1960s and 1970s because of wild, colorful ads in comic books that made the tiny shrimp look like they had crowns and personalities.

Kit comes complete. Most Sea-Monkey kits include three pouches of special water treatment and eggs, instructions, and sometimes a small tank to keep them in.