When my mom asked me what I wanted for my 17th birthday, I just told her to surprise me.
This was certainly a surprise.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t a glass ball filled with tiny shrimp. Her excitement as I opened the gift only confused me even more, because what on earth could be so cool about… whatever that was? She must have seen my puzzled expression, because she immediately began to explain her reasoning behind thinking — “Ah, yes. I know what my daughter would like for her birthday: a ball with shrimp in it.”
This glass sphere, she told me, is called the Ecosphere, and it has 8 incredibly tiny shrimp inside of it along with algae, bacteria and other microorganisms, a fake sea fan, decorative shells, and lightweight gravel. Because it can’t be opened in any way, the Ecosphere runs on energy. Indirect light and carbon dioxide in the water — mainly given off by the shrimp and the bacteria — enable the algae to produce oxygen. The shrimp then breathe it in and eat the algae as well as bacteria in the water. Meanwhile, the bacteria break down the shrimps’ waste into nutrients that the algae uses to grow. Now, tell me that isn’t cool. It’s a self-sustaining ecosystem! The coolest thing is that the idea came from two scientists and was further developed by NASA, who saw it as an opportunity to study the Earth’s biosphere and to conduct research on the construction of space stations to explore our solar system. In the simplest terms, this sphere represents our planet on a tiny scale: we are the little shrimp, forever as dependent on the organisms around us as they are on us. But maybe the absolutely coolest part is that I can’t forget to feed or water it. I have killed many plants and fish in my days, but the Ecosphere is so low-maintenance not even I could manage to kill it (hopefully).
I don’t care that most of my friends look at me weird for being sort of obsessed with Jacques — as I lovingly call all the shrimp after the character in Finding Nemo. Now, the Ecosphere sits proudly in my bookshelf as the little shrimp swim happily in their glass home.










