National Sea Monkey Day Takes Us on a Trip Down Memory Lane [Video]

If you're over the age of 30, you probably remember Sea Monkey advertisements in kids' magazines.

The exciting promise of this other worldly creatures seemed like a must have pet. Then reality hit when you received your Sea Monkey package, set up the bowl with water and waited for the Sea Monkeys to appear and wow you.

And you waited, and waited, and waited. And then, oh!  There's something...I think. They looked like little wiggly whitish debris in the water. A speck at best and jeez, they don't look ANYTHING like the artist rendering in the ad!

Turns out they are nothing remotely exotic. Sea Monkeys are simply brine shrimp. You'll be able to see just what Sea Monkeys look like in the video below.  Keep in mind they are MUCH smaller than they appear in the video.

I felt like I'd been hoodwinked when I found that out that Sea Monkeys were barely visible brine shrimp. It was just like when Ralphie in the movie "The Christmas Story" was all excited to get his Little Orphan Annie secret decoder ring that would allow him to reveal a secret message after listening in to the Little Orphan radio show.

Find out what happened below.