They can live in water having several times the salinity of seawater, but they can also tolerate water having only one tenth the marine salt concentration. Brine shrimp usually occur in huge numbers and can be seen in vast windblown lines in the Great Salt Lake. Their absence from the sea has been explained by their vulnerability to attack by predators and the absence of the latter in their inland saline habitat. Although brine shrimp are considered to be members of a single genus, Artemis, and possibly a single species, there are several varieties. Generally, they have stalked, compound eyes and tapered bodies with a trunk that bears 11 pairs of leaflike legs.
Females have a brood pouch from which active young are liberated under favorable conditions.
Brine shrimp are classified in the phylum Arthropoda , subphylum Crustacea, class Branchiopoda, order Anostraca.