Artemiidae
From Microcosm Aquarium Explorer
Life cycle of Artemia, from cysts to adult brine shrimp. Photo Collage by Matthew Wittenrich.
[edit] Overview
Small aquatic crustaceans found in marine bays and lakes worldwide and a mainstay food in aquaculture. Adults are used for feeding and conditioning many fishes and invertebrates and newly hatched larvae, known as Artemia nauplii are rich in lipids and unsaturated fatty acids and are an important food for baby fish and invertebrates.
Adult brine shrimp are not a particularly nutritious food unless "enriched" by feeding them with a nutritional supplement (such as Selcon) several hours before using them as food.
Brine shrimp are prodigiously fertile, producing huge numbers of eggs that are in leathery cysts and capable of remaining in a dry, dormant state for years. When reintroduced to water, they hatch within 24 hours.
So-called "Sea Monkeys," sold as a curiosity, are nothing more than baby brine shrimp that hatch out of cysts.
There is just one genus, Artemia
BioGroup:
Native range:
Taxonomic rank: Family
Common name: BRINE SHRIMP
| Total known | Total profiles | |
|---|---|---|
| Subfamilies | 0 | 0 |
| Genera | 1 | 1 |
| Species | 13 | 1 |