- Instant Fish
: "There was also a
Sea-Monkey competitor sold as "Instant Fish"."Instant Fish was an idea conceived by the
Wham-O toy company in the early 1960s.Instant
fish were a species ofAfrica nkillifish ("Nothobranchius sp.") that laid eggs in themud at the start of thedry season . The eggs lay dormant (embryonic diapause ) until therainy season , when thewater would cause them to hatch and be able to survive in full rainy seasonriver s andlake s, rather than the dry creeks of the dry season. Wham-O had the idea of selling chunks of a mud substitute with the eggs inside it. Once this was taken home and put in a suitable container, water would be added and the eggs would hatch.The idea went as far as a
New York toy fair, where it proved a hit. However, it soon became clear that the fish did not lay as many eggs at a time as would be needed for the idea to be economically viable, so the concept was dropped. However, killifish eggs are sold on a smaller scale as educational tools.The name instant fish is a play on instant food, which was a major development of the 1960s, and was probably influenced by the original name of "Sea-Monkeys", "Instant Life".
See also
*
Ant farm
*Sea-Monkey
* "Triops "External links
* [http://www.wham-o.com/default.cfm?page=AboutUsHistory History of Wham-O]
* [http://www.triops.com/critters.htm Information on annual killifish from Triops, Inc]
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