After two decades of Harold von Braunhut managing most of the logistics of the Sea-Monkey® brand, Larami Corporation, based in Pennsylvania, United States, became the first licensee of the Sea-Monkey® brand, with Transcience becoming a division of said company during that period.

While we don’t have the exact start and end date of Larami’s time with the brand, a few things give us an idea of the timeframe. In the earliest Ocean-Zoo insert produced by Larami, we see a copyright year of 1982; that same year, Sea-Monkey ads made their last appearance inside the pages of comic books. Forward to 1992, and Sea-Monkeys still appear in Larami’s catalog pages, but by 1994, this licensing deal between Harold and Larami had come to an end.

In the early 1990s, Larami started gaining recognition in the toy market due to their successful line of toy water guns called Super Soaker. In 1995, Larami was acquired by Hasbro, mainly for the assets & production of the Super Soaker line. In 2002, by which point Larami’s assets and operations had been integrated into Hasbro, Larami’s name was retired, thus bringing Larami Corporation to an end.

Sculpted art by Paul & Sue Krosnick. This sculpted art and its variants seen on other packaging defined this Sea-Monkey era under Larami.

This sculpted art was subsequently used briefly by Basic Fun, Educational Insights & Moose Toys during the 1990s.

Ocean-Zoo®

Standard Sea-Monkey Ocean-Zoo aquarium produced by Larami. Known colours included blue, green & red; some versions were packaged in shrink-wrap, while others were sold in blister packaging.

Light-Up Ocean-Zoo®

While previously Sea-Monkey aquariums had a light-up option one could attach, it was a rudimentary system that the consumer had to assemble manually. With Larami, we saw the introduction of a built-in lighting system in the Ocean-Zoo cover. It required one AA battery.

From blister packaging to different boxed versions, the “Light Up” kit received various packaging options throughout Larami’s years with the brand. Known colours it was produced in included blue, green & red.

Sea-Monkeys® and their Light-Up Sea-Circus®

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The “Light-Up Sea-Circus” was a large kit packaged in a circus-themed box and included many additional accessories & supplies. This kit included a Light-Up Ocean-Zoo aquarium, the four primary packets, a packet of “Cupid’s Arrow” Mating Powder, a packet of “Red Magic” Sea-Monkey® Vitamins, an Aqua-Leash, a feeding spoon, a handbook, “snap-on” color filter, a Sea-Monkey “projector” (a small cardboard assembly where one would place the light-up cover), and a “projector” screen.

Instant Life® Kits

Larami distributed two different-sized starter kits; the small one consisted of the Water Purifier (Packet #1), Instant Live Eggs (Packet #2), and Growth Food (either Packet #3 or #4 at the time). The larger kit included the aforementioned packets, Plasma II (also Packet #3 at the time), a handbook, and a feeding spoon.

Using the new sculpted artwork in front, the blister card of these two kits was the same in size as their 1970s counterparts, which had the same configuration of supplies. On the back, the information and elements that we see mostly remained the same as it was published in the 1970s. This left us with outdated address information & copyright years that didn’t correspond to when they were actually produced and distributed, leading some to miscategorize these Instant Life kits.

One noticeable change can be seen in the large Instant Life kit variant, where the fanciful Sea-Monkey art was replaced with an actual photograph of an Artemia Salina.

Handbooks

With an updated copyright year, address information, and with the pages trimmed just a few millimeters, Larami continued distributing the 1970s handbook with the iconic Sea-Monkeys oval artwork during their first few years with the brand.

That 1970s handbook edition was eventually phased out, and we saw the introduction of two new handbook variants with new artwork on their cover and pages.

One was similar in size to its predecessors from the 1970s and was included in the larger boxed kits and Instant Life kits. The other handbook variant, with its yellow cover, was shorter and similar in size to its late 1960s predecessors. This shorter variant was made so Larami could package it inside the Ocean-Zoo, along with packets & spoon.

Packet Numbering Changes

It was during this time under Larami that we started seeing a transition in the packet numbering. Packet #3, which initially corresponded to Plasma II, was also assigned to the Sea-Monkey Growth Food, initially packet #4 at the time.

As noted by handbook art & the difference in packets included in various kits, we had two separate “lines” of packets being offered at this time. Larger kits included the unchanged “line” of packets one through four (Purifier, Eggs, Plasma II & Growth Food). Smaller kits included the “new sequence” of packets one through three, with Growth Food as packet #3. That new sequence became the default for the primary packets we still use today.

While Plasma II apparently received a packet variant with the large number 4 design, it happened after Larami’s time. While we see its art in the handbook, and it was apparently briefly included in some kits produced by the following two licensees, its production and distribution seem to have been a short-lived one. We have not come across specimens of this packet.

Early on during the Educational Insights years, Plasma II was replaced with the new Plasma III formula. The Plasma II art and information in the handbook remained unchanged.