No, I doan mean 'see no, hear no & tell no' monkeys .. or those lil
internet monkeys Bob & Strike ;-) ... no, Im talking about a very unique
crustacean - brine shrimp - Artemia.

We produce quite a large amount of salt in our state. Our coastal salt
farms can involve many ponds of about 1,000 hectares each. It may not be
gold, but salt farming is big business.

Living in most of these salt farms is another potential gold mine - brine
shrimp. What use to cost US$40 for a 425 gram can of cysts 5 years ago now
costs about US$100-$200 for the same size due to supply problems.

Brine shrimp filter algae from the brine, which contributes to the salt
quality. What is bizzare about this animal is their unusual survival trick
- the ability to produce cysts which can survive through the drying up of
the brine lakes. Dormancy can go on for several years while the cyst is
dry. When the right conditions return they easily re-hydrate in seawater &
start to grow.

They are a very important food source for fish larvae. Instead of treating
these critters as a pest everyone is now being encouraged to harvest their
brine shrimp, or consider farming them. A new aquaculture industry in the
making, and also of value for the aquarium trade as a high quality feed.