The Weekly MUSE: Sea Monkeys

I had heard of Sea Monkeys, and I had seen the Sea Monkey kits on many store’s shelves. But I never thought that the little packet inside the kit could truly hold LIFE!

I was WRONG!

Last week, I finally purchased my very own Sea Monkey Ocean Zoo. I followed the instructions, and sure enough, as you saw in the video, I am now the proud father of at least 50 Sea Monkeys.

Sea Monkeys
Photo by: Perry Marco

But are they really MONKEYS?

No. They are actually a type of brine shrimp.

Brine shrimp are crustaceans, related to crabs and lobsters. And what makes these creatures EXTRA cool is that their eggs can survive up to 50 years without hatching, at least this is the case for the Sea Monkey variety.

Sea Monkeys create their own trehalose, which is a substance they secrete over their eggs to keep them safe from extreme temperatures and the lack of water. Once coated, the eggs can live up to 50 years. Once the conditions are JUST right, the eggs will hatch. This is why the envelope of eggs can sit on a store’s shelf until a curious buyer takes them home and adds water.

In my case, the eggs hatched overnight, and they grow bigger every day.

I've kept them near a window above a heat vent, and I feed them the algae powder that was included inside the kit. By the looks of it, a nice crop of algae is growing at the bottom of the tank and the Sea Monkeys are happily feeding.

Sea Monkey's eat powdered algae

And as long as I take care of these Sea Monkeys, they can live up to two years – maybe more.

Here are some more interesting Sea Monkey Facts:

They breathe through their legs, and they are born with three eyes. They lose this third eye by adulthood. STRANGE!

You can tell that your Sea Monkeys are well fed if they have a green or brown stripe running down their bodies. This is a full digestive track.

Male Sea Monkeys are always smaller than the females. And they will reproduce in your tank. If you see a Sea Monkey with a brown pouch under her body - that is an egg sack.

Sea Monkeys do not have brains. Instead, they have a grouping of nerves called “ganglia”.

Brine shirimp have been around since the Triassic period (around 250 million years). And most brine shrimp are found in salt lakes, not the ocean.

If you would like to purchase your own Sea Monkey Ocean Zoo, you can find them at most toy retailers or just click here.

This is all you need to grow your first Sea Monkeys

With this new knowledge, what kind of story could you write? Maybe these what if questions will help you get started.

WHAT IF your setting was inside a Sea Monkey tank? What do the Sea Monkeys think of their new world after being inside their time-capsule eggs?

WHAT IF your main character was a kid scientist who had figured out a way to coat human beings with a substance like trehalose? Would this keep humans alive 50 years longer than normal?

WHAT IF your main character bought an ordinary Sea Monkey kit but did not grow ordinary Sea Monkeys? How are these Sea Monkey’s different? Does this contribute to the conflict in the story?

  

The possibilities are endless, and please leave your own what if questions in the comment section below. I’d love to see what you come up with.

So, grab a pencil and a piece of paper, and let’s begin. With your imagination, we can go anywhere. I look forward to seeing where you take us.

With Imagination,

Professor Watermelon

The Weekly MUSE: Octopus

The Giant Pacific Octopus
Photo by: Joe Parks

I was at an international supermarket the other day and found octopus meat for sale. I was instantly reminded of going fishing in Seattle’s Puget Sound!

Washington State Ferries crossing Puget Sound
Photo by: Elaphurus

I love to go fishing, but I was used to fishing in the lakes and rivers of Indiana – not the salt waters of Puget Sound. I figured it couldn't be that much different though, so I took a fishing pole, some hooks and some worms down to the pier. I baited my hook and tossed the line in the water.

I waited and waited. Nothing. Wasn’t I supposed to catch a flounder or something?

I waited some more. Nothing. In Indiana I would have had at least a nibble by now.

And just as my mind began to drift away like the Washington State Ferry hauling cars across the sound, my pole lurched forward, and my line tightened.

I tugged and reeled and tugged some more. Whatever was on the end of my line was fighting hard to stay in the water.

When the beast finally surfaced, I could not believe my eyes. I was expecting a fish with fins and gills, not an OCTOPUS with eight arms! Toto, I believe we are not in Indiana anymore.

Not only had I caught an OCTOPUS, but I also found my MUSE! And now, I would like to share this MUSE with you! Here is what I learned about OCTOPI…

The octopus I had caught was a young Giant Pacific Octopus. This species is native to the Puget Sound and are the largest Octopi in the world. They grow up to 33 pounds with an arm span of up to 14 feet.

Octopi are the smartest invertebrates known to man. They have the intelligence of a house cat, and they are known for using problem solving skills. In captivity, octopi have learned how to open jars. Take a look at this video and see for yourself!

Octopi have superior defense skills. They can squeeze their soft bodies through seemingly impossible cracks. They can change their skin color to match their environment, and they can shoot a cloud of dark ink to confuse a predator. WOW!

The smaller an octopus species is, the more poisonous it is (usually). The most poisonous octopus is the Blue Ringed Octopus that lives off the coast of Australia. This little guy has enough poison to kill a human being, and they only get four inches long. Here is video about the Blue Ringed Octopus.

Octopi usually eat mollusks and crustaceans, but they have been known to eat each other, too. The Giant Pacific Octopus will sometimes snag a shark for lunch. Now, that’s something to write home about. Take a LOOK!

And please do not call an octopus’ arms, legs. Spiders have eight legs! Octopi have eight arms! And these arms are lined with two rows of suction cups each. They are used for holding onto things and tasting things. Yes, I said tasting.

By the way - Octopi, Octopodes, and Octopuses are all acceptable ways of describing more than one octopus.

With this new knowledge what kind of story could you write? Maybe these “WHAT IF” questions will help you get started.

WHAT IF a giant octopus lived under the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, in Tacoma WA? Oops, this legend already exists, but we could embellish it (wink).   

WHAT IF your character woke up one morning and his/her arms and legs had turned into those of an octopus?

WHAT IF your character built a robotic octopus submarine? What would he/she go hunting for underwater?

The possibilities are endless, and please leave your own WHAT IF questions in the comment section below. I’d love to see what you come up with.

So, grab a pencil and a piece of paper, and let’s begin. With your imagination, we can go anywhere. I look forward to seeing where you take us.

With Imagination,

Prof. Watermelon

P.S. The word of the week is “invertebrate”. Here is the definition: of or pertaining to creatures without a backbone.

The Weekly MUSE: Mushrooms

Bright orange mushrooms growing at the base of a tree.
Photo by: Skakerman

The other day I fried some mushrooms. And while I was eating them, I thought about my creative writers! Wouldn't mushrooms make a wonderful MUSE?

Let’s take a look at this fungus among us and see what we can uncover.

Mushrooms are a type of fungi, which means that they are NOT a plant. They are a member of the fungi kingdom along with yeasts and molds.

Mushrooms grow on organisms that are dead or dying. In fact, they help things decay or rot. Take a look at this video to see it happen in real life.

Wow! Did you see the mushrooms growing on the dead insects? I had never seen anything like that before.

You are probably wondering how mushrooms reproduce. Since they are not plants, they do NOT reproduce by seeds. Instead, they reproduce by SPORES. Take a look at this diagram of a mushroom.

The spores are released from the gills of the mushroom. These spores blow away on the wind in hopes of finding dead or dying matter to help rot.

I’m sure all this has made you hungry, huh? I can just hear your stomachs growling (wink).

The mushrooms we eat do not come from decaying insects. Most of them are farmed. Take a look at this video and tour a mushroom farm in England.

While most people get their mushrooms from the grocery store, some people hunt for them in the wild.

In the Pacific Northwest, people hunt for the tasty and colorful CHANTERELLE. Very yummy, especially in soup!

Chanterelle Mushroom
Photo by: Charles De Mille-Isles

In the Midwest, people hunt for the tasty and odd looking MOREL! Also very yummy, especially fried!

Morel Mushroom
Photo by: Michael Hodge

BEWARE! While some wild mushrooms are edible, most are NOT! In fact, some mushrooms are poisonous and deadly. YIKES!

The Death Cap Mushroom is one of these DEADLY mushrooms.

The poisonous Death Cap Mushroom
Photo by: Mik Hartwell

On a brighter note, take a look at how the creators of the popular 1980’s cartoon used mushrooms as their MUSE.

The next time you are walking through your yard, try not to step on the mushrooms. You don’t want to smash a Smurf, do you?

With this new knowledge, what kind of story could you write? Maybe these what if questions will help you get started.

WHAT IF your main character grew magic mushrooms. What can these magic mushrooms do?

WHAT IF your main character lived inside a mushroom kind of like the Smurfs? How would you make character different? How would you make the setting different?

WHAT IF your main character went mushroom hunting and got lost?

The possibilities are endless, and please leave your own what if questions in the comment section below. I’d love to see what you come up with.

So, grab a pencil and a piece of paper, and let’s begin. With your imagination, we can go anywhere. I look forward to seeing where you take us.

With Imagination,

Professor Watermelon

The word of the week is “decay”. Here is the definition: to become decomposed or to rot.