Discovery Express
  • Welcome!
  • Blog
  • Check out our store!
  • 9 Apples Math Game
  • Your questions answered!
  • About/Contact

Sea Monkeys or Aqua Dragons? A Comprehensive Guide to Brine Shrimp

4/10/2017

9 Comments

 
When you think of pets, what do you picture? Maybe a dog, or a cat, or perhaps a fish? Have you ever thought about keeping a prehistoric pet, such as brine shrimp? These little crustaceans aren’t anything like you picture when you think of shrimp. While the jumbo shrimp we eat are about 14-21 centimeters in length, brine shrimp can barely reach a maximum size of 1 centimeter! In fact, a typical full grown brine shrimp is about 10 millimeters in length. Their tiny size makes them a perfect food source for other fish - betta fish in particular love brine shrimp as a tasty treat every once in awhile.
Picture
So yes, you can raise brine shrimp as food for your fish, or you can keep them as your own prehistoric pets.

The term “brine shrimp” is the common name for a number of organisms in the Artemia genus, and the oldest fossil of these creatures dates back to the Triassic period - over 200 million years ago!
Picture
Millions of years ago, these brine shrimp survived by living away from most predators in extremely salty water (up to 25% salinity). In fact, these shrimp are one of the only aquatic species that inhabit the Great Salt Lake in Utah, Nevada. Another survival tactic is their ability to produce dormant eggs, or eggs that don’t hatch until the environment is just right. This way, the baby shrimp can survive through a lack of oxygen, toxic waters, extreme temperatures, and can even be removed from moisture completely.
Picture
The dormant eggs are called cysts; the process of encystment is what allowed these shrimp to thrive and remain almost totally biologically unchanged from prehistoric times until now. These cysts are also relatively simple to harvest from the lakes they’re found in, and that makes them excellent candidates for scientific research. For example, when researching the effects of pollution on mammals, brine shrimp have been used extensively as preliminary test subjects due to their great availability.

Scientists have also taken brine shrimp eggs into space to test the impact of radiation on life. In the 1980s on Apollo 16 and 17, eggs were taken on a trip to the moon and back. In 1991, “Forty-four brine shrimp were hatched on the space shuttle Atlantis in April, making them among the first animals ever born in space.” When they returned, only five of them had survived, most likely due to the lack of oxygen and nutrients in their water.

Grow Your Own Shrimp!
Picture
Brine shrimp are sold commercially under the brands “Sea Monkeys” and “Aqua Dragons”. These little kits are complete with a tank, eggs, food packets, and instructions - everything you’d need to hatch your own baby brine shrimp. You can even purchase just the eggs and food to save some money and use your own container as a tank.

Once the eggs have hatched (usually within the first 15-24 hours after being placed in the water), it takes approximately 25-30 days for the shrimp to reach their full adult size. During the growing period, they will go through multiple molting stages in which they develop from an embryo to larva to an adult. The males can be clearly recognised by their graspers, which are modified antennae near the head, while females should be starting to show a egg pouch near the tail. They will be an average size of about 8-10 millimeters. If you keep them in water with a lower concentration of salt, the females can produce free-swimming babies instead of dormant eggs!

If kept at optimal conditions, the adult brine shrimp can live up to four months! You can start this process by purchasing one of the many kit options available right now, such as the original Sea Monkeys, or one of the multiple different Aqua Dragons kits. These kits cost anywhere from $10-$30, and are well worth the price for hatching your own low-maintenance pets!

*Discovery Express Kids does not endorse either brand of commercial brine shrimp, nor are the brands sponsored by us. These are simply one of the many options available on the market right now.



References:

"SCIENCE WATCH; Shrimp Hatch in Space." The New York Times, 14 May 1991. Web. 8 Apr. 2017. <http://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/14/science/science-watch-shrimp-hatch-in-space.html>.

http://www.petseahorse.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-growing-brine-shrimp

https://aquadragons.net/pages/what-are-aqua-dragons


Image Credits:

© Hans Hillewaert. “Brine Shrimp: Laboratory Picture”.  Released into the public domain under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Uploaded on 4/6/17 from wikimedia.org

Bassett, Joseph. “Elements of Zoology (1884) - Crabs and Insects”. Released into the public domain. Uploaded on 4/8/17 from flickr.com/internetarchivebookimages

Healy. George. “Cyst Stage of Entamoeba Histolytica”. Released into the public domain. Uploaded on 4/8/17 from wikimedia.org

Manske, Magnus. “Sea Monkeys in Aquarium”. Released into the public domain. Uploaded on 4/8/17 from wikimedia.org
9 Comments
Aries1470
2/24/2018 05:54:52 am

The Apollo missions began in the 1960's and ended in the 1970's. The missions you referenced are in early 1970's.

Reply
Lola
10/13/2019 08:33:36 pm

Cooool. Never knew that

Reply
Sophia
12/3/2020 11:35:20 am

Im planning on asking for aqua dragons or sea monkeys for this christmas. This article definetly helped me decide.

Reply
Michael
1/17/2021 08:30:32 am

The great salt lake is not located in Utah, Nevada. Utah and Nevada are both individual states. The Great Salt Lake is actually located northwest of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Reply
BRANDY
5/29/2021 09:55:44 pm

This is really awesome and im sure it will be neat to see them grow and take care of them. My daughter is going to love this as soon as it comes in the mail I'm going to help her set it up and as long as she listens and is responsible I will let her hatch the eggs and we will go from their as to learn how to feed them and take care of them so they can live a good healthy life.

Reply
MckinneyVia link
2/21/2022 02:54:39 am


Excellent article! Your post is essential today. Thanks for sharing, by the way.

Reply
Kevin link
6/1/2022 04:38:21 am

i buy my triops and sea monkeys always at https://triopsking.com this is the best store i´ve ever discovered for this.

Reply
pradeep link
1/30/2023 10:23:52 am

Terrific article. I appreciated the structure and the various pcs of information Thanks for sharing

Reply
coupon4hub link
2/1/2023 12:20:09 am

Nice Post Very Informative Article Thanks for sharing

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Follow us on Pinterest!
    Picture
    Check out our new game for math education, grades 1-7!

    Archives

    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    Categories

    All
    Age 10 12
    Age 12 14
    Age 14 16
    Age 16+
    Age 8 10
    Anatomy/Physiology
    Biology
    Chemistry
    Engineering
    Food Science
    Geology/Earth Science
    Health Science
    Math
    Microbiology
    Physics
    Plant Science
    Psychology
    Weather Science

Proudly powered by Weebly