They re under the sea, with their strange horse like heads and kangaroo pouches. They re interesting and strange sea creatures. They re sea horses. You will learn about their habitat, body, prey and predators, protection, reproduction, and species. This is the world of sea horses.
WHERE THEY LIVE Sea horses live in many places around the world. More than 10 sea horse species live among the waters of tropical trees along coastal areas, and 11 species live in oceans near Australia. A Pygmy (Pig-me) sea horse lives in the seas of tropical Asia.
STRANGE BODIES Sea horses have the strangest bodies of all fish. They are very odd looking, and range in size from as small as ½ inch to14 inches. Sea horses are fish but instead of having scales they have bony plates. They have a dorsal fin and a horse-like snout, they also have a belly that bulges out and its tail is curled. Sea horses gills are not in rows, they re in clumps. It s hard for sea horses to get around because they are weak swimmers; it takes ninety seconds to swim a foot. One way sea horses move is by using two small fins behind their head, called pectoral fins. A good thing is that fish don t prey on sea horses, because of their bony bodies, but in case of any other prey they have sharp eyes that look different directions.
PREY AND PREDATORS Sea horses have many Prey and Predators. Sea horses have to be careful because there are a lot of things bigger than them like crabs, rays, and sharks, which prey on sea horses. Sea horses have prey too like shrimp and other small sea creatures. The sea horse hunts its prey by waiting for a small sea creature to swim by and using its snout it sucks the prey into its mouth. Sea horses have no teeth that is why they suck in their prey. A sea horse is always hungry because they have a very small digestive system. Fishers drag nets to the ocean floor catching sea horses. then they are killed and sold to use in objects like key rings and pins or they are used as an ingredient to cure baldness and diseases. Sea horses can also be pets.
PROTECTION Sea horses need to protect themselves. They cannot protect themselves from storms, and only some can hold themselves onto a plant for long. However, sea horses can protect themselves from large sea creatures. The sea horse will change color to blend in to the plant that they re holding onto; sometimes they can even grow spikes to camouflage into their plant. They are close to becoming endangered, but luckily scientists are studying sea horses in order to save them from extinction.
SEA HORSES BEING BORN Sea horses have a very strange way of reproduction. If males have an eye on the same mate, the males may have a fight, they will try to pin each other to the ocean floor, whoever wins gets the mate. After the male and female mate, the female releases her eggs, she slims down while the male swells up. The female puts eggs into the male s pouch and then leaves. A sea horse s pouch is like a kangaroo s, which is where they fertilize their eggs. The male then takes care of eggs while they re being fertilized. The number of babies averages 100-200 for most species but sometimes 5 to 1,500. The male gives birth to one batch of babies at night and another in the morning when his mate returns, the eggs had stayed in the male s pouch for 10-50 days. He gives birth by moving his body back and forth until baby sea horses come out. After they go the male eats the babies he can catch and leaves. The baby sea horses like to hang onto their father s snout.
DIFFERENT SPECIES Like all fish there are different species of sea horses. There are 32 known species of sea horses, for example Longsnout or Potbelly sea horse. Some names of sea horses describe what they look like, such as, Speckled, Dwarf, and Spiny sea horses. All sea horses have Latin names like a Hippocampus bargibanti also called a pygmy (pig-me) sea horse is 0.8 inches long (2 cm). One sea horse species is a Leafy Sea Dragon; it blends into green leafy plants because it is made out of plants.
Sea horses are interesting and beautiful creatures. We need to do things so that they won t go extinct. One thing is to not litter because the litter ends up in the oceans and can kill sea horses by spreading bacteria. Sotell and teach everyone about them to help save sea horses. Please wish that they won t become extinct.