What could be more remarkable than that? … I was always interested in wildlife, and I was looking for something that would interest other people in it.” 2. “I thought, if you could take a package of powder and put it in water and see it come to life. “People say, ‘What gave you the idea for Sea-Monkeys?’” von Braunhut, who held about 200 patents, said in an interview with the Baltimore Sun in 1997. 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.
While in this state-also known as cryptobiosis-the animals are in a protective cyst-like casing until water is added. “These shrimp live in salt lakes or salt flats, and when the water of a salt lake evaporates, the shrimp go into this state of suspended animation,” Patricia Hogan, a curator at the Strong National Museum of Play, told Mental Floss in 2014. In 1957, Harold von Braunhut became fascinated with a species of brine shrimp, Artemia salina, that he saw being sold as pet food in a pet store. Courtesy the Strong National Museum of Play. Trade publication ad for Sea-Monkeys, 1972.
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