Brine shrimps are tiny organisms that are found in the saline lakes. As the name suggests, the word brine means a salt solution while the shrimp is the organism itself, thus the name brine shrimp. Brine shrimps usually live in salty water bodies that have inlets but no outlets. They are aquatic crustaceans that are about 1 cm long and have what looks like wings that enhance their movement in the water bodies. Brine shrimps like any other creature that has life are categorized into female and male in nature and obtain food from marine life such as bacteria. Their mode of reproduction is almost similar to that of other marine creatures (Loc 558). The creatures mate and the female brine shrimp gives birth to small young brine shrimps after which they release eggs into the water that hatch afterwards. The eggs of the brine shrimp cannot be hatched unless they are in a favourable environment mostly in salt-water bodies. It normally takes around six months before larval shrimp reaches maturity. Brine shrimps are categorized as one of the animals that are salt tolerant (Moe 24).
Not only in the natural water bodies can brine shrimps survive but also in artificial places as long as the water that they are in is salty. This means that you can keep your own brine shrimps for various purposes such as research for students in colleges and universities. You can raise them up easily because they do not require complex knowledge to raise them. You can raise them to maturity from the larval stage and still maintain a continuous stable population growing in your chosen place of research. What the researcher needs to ensure is that he or she feeds the brine shrimps constantly or else they die at their larval stage. They can survive with baker’s yeast in one week’s time. In addition, the researcher should ensure that he moves the brine shrimps to a new, larger container after the first two weeks of their life cycle (sorgelous 19).
Researchers are not only interested in analyzing the life cycle of a brine shrimp but also connect various researches to their core research. An example is where Brine shrimps can be used to investigate light as they seek it. In addition, brine shrimps generate a few advantages to the people that rear them. These advantages include being purchased as fish food and being used for food chain analysis. It is important to note that brine shrimps can also be referred to as sea monkeys or fairy shrimp. If by any chance you at one point wish to rear brine shrimps for your personal research, they are commonly found in the lake mono in California. Also, if you have started rearing the brine shrimps but they do not hatch any egg, you can purchase them at delta education or from any fish stores of your choice (Wilkerson 34). As we have discussed in this essay about brine shrimps, we have learnt what they are, where they survive, how they reproduce, and their life cycle, how you as a researcher can rear them to get your expected results and the added advantages you can get besides your intended investigation.
Works Cited
Loc, Head. Brine Shrimp Encyclopaedia Americana. New York: Culture Society, 1993. Print
Moe, Martin. Breeding the Orchid Dotty Back. Haleiwa: Green Turtle Publications, 1997. Print.
Sorgelous, Patrick. Updated Bibliography on Brine Shrimp. California: European marc, 1980. Print.
Wilkerson, Joyce. Cowfishes: A Guide to their Captive Care, Breeding, & Natural History. Neptune: TFH Publications, Inc., 1998. Print.