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Celebrate Sea-Monkeys, billed as the world's only 'instant pet'

Dust off those plastic tanks and start celebrating. It's National Sea-Monkey Day.

By LISA CHINN

Date published: 5/16/2004

By LISA CHINN

ETS THAT COME from a powder?

Susan Barclay's mother wasn't buying it. Not for one second.

So 6-year-old Susan was forced to live vicariously through her best friend, Michelle--at least when it came to Sea-Monkeys.

Susan was mesmerized by the tiny swimmers that swarmed through the water in her friend's plastic tank. And as soon as she collected some cash, she bought her own paper envelope filled with Sea-Monkey eggs.

"I went to a toy store, and there they were, calling to me," she said about the living product billed as "the world's only instant pets."

Since then, the now-34-year-old Barclay, who lives in Chilliwack, in Canada's British Columbia, has gone bananas over Sea-Monkeys.

She has a Web site dedicated to describing the monkeys' mating habits, growth patterns and the hype that surrounds them. And she's the author of "The Ultimate Guide to Sea-Monkeys."

Her love for the quirky creatures led her to write to Chase's Calendar of Events--a comprehensive publication of serious and not-so-serious holidays--asking for a special day to celebrate them. She got it.

Today is National Sea-Monkey Day. So pull those colorful plastic tanks--the ones with the magnifying bubble-shaped windows--out of the attic and mix up an instant-pet potion of your own.

In addition to the calming effects aquatic animals are said to have on their owners, Sea-Monkeys have held a place in American pop culture since they first were marketed in 1960.

"Talk about nostalgia," said Courtney Lemus, sales and marketing assistant for The Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys, the product's California-based distributor.

Generations of kids have marveled at the magical beings, which, in fact, are nothing more than a species of genetically altered brine shrimp.

Like other trendy trinkets that live and breathe--hermit crabs, Chia Pets, ant farms--Sea-Monkeys call for minimal care and a heaping helping of imagination.

"They're real," Lemus insists. "They're so real."

But if you're lucky enough to get your packet of preserved eggs to hatch, the beings that survive look nothing like the humanlike figures the package promises.

Thanks to over-the-top marketing by the late Sea-Monkey inventor, Harold von Braunhut, legions of kids imagined their lady Sea-Monkeys smearing on lipstick.

Whimsical images showed the water-bound creatures walking tiny dogs, reading tiny newspapers and batting tiny volleyballs over tiny nets.

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Date published: 5/16/2004