Facts about sea horse

Sea horse





There are about 40 known species of seahorse.
Seahorses prefer to swim in pairs with their tails linked together.
They swim upright and avoid predators by mimicking the colour of underwater plants.
Except for crabs, few marine predators eat the seahorse - it is too bony and indigestible.
Seahorses propel themselves by using a small fin on their back that flutters up to 35 times per second. Even smaller pectoral fins located near the back of the head are used for steering.
Because of their body shape, seahorses are rather inept swimmers and can easily die of exhaustion when caught in storm-roiled seas.
They anchor themselves with their prehensile tails to sea grasses and corals, using their elongated snouts to suck in plankton and small crustaceans that drift by. The seahorse can suck up food from as far as 3cm away.
The seahorse feeds constantly on plankton and tiny fish. It moves each of its eyes independently, so it can follow the activity of passing sea life without giving its presence away.
Seahorses have no teeth and no stomach. Food passes through their digestive systems so quickly, they must eat almost constantly to stay alive.




They can consume 3,000 or more brine shrimp per day.
Seahorses are monogamous and mate for life.
Rarer still, they are among the only animal species on Earth in which the male bears the unborn young.
Male pregnancy frees to female to make more eggs straight away and so reproduce quicker.
Seahorses engage in an eight hour courtship dance which includes spinning around, swimming side by side and changing colours.
When mating, the female seahorse releases up to 50 eggs into a pouch on the male’s abdomen.

Description:

Seahorses range in size from 1.5 to 35.5 cm (0.6 to 14.0 in).They are named for their equine appearance. Although they are bony fish, they do not have scales, but rather thin skin stretched over a series of bony plates, which are arranged in rings throughout their bodies. Each species has a distinct number of rings. Seahorses swim upright, another characteristic not shared by their close pipefish relatives, which swim horizontally. Razorfish are the only other fish that swim vertically like a seahorse. Unusual among fish, a seahorse has a flexible, well-defined neck. It also sports a coronet on its head, which is distinct for each individual.

Habitat:

Found in shallow tropical and temperate waters throughout the world, these upright-swimming relatives of the pipefish can range in size from 0.6 inches (1.5 centimeters) to 14 inches (35 centimeters) long.