Seahorse—a Weird Creature:

Here you will find very useful and interesting seahorses information. Close relatives of the leafy sea dragons, these animals are grouped among the weirdest creatures, inhabiting the marine environment on the planet earth. All of the extant 54 species of seahorses belong to the genus Hippocampus, where the name 'Hippocampus' has been derived from two Greek words, 'Hippos' and 'kampos', which mean 'horse' and 'sea monster', respectively. On this ground, you can claim that it is a horse-like sea monster.

Habitation and Physical Appearance:

Concerning where seahorses live, they are found throughout the world, particularly, in the shallow tropical and temperate waters. Named after their equine or horse-like physical appearance, they may grow as large as 14 inches or 35 1/2 in the body size. The fleshy appendages grown on their bodies are known as cirri which give them a weed-like appearance, thus assisting in camouflage.

Locomotion:

Seahorses are usually poor swimmers and for moving through water, they use dorsal fins. The steering and stability are assisted through the activity of pectoral fins present on either side of the head.

If you want to know more about this wonderful water-dwelling creature, just read the following sections:

Seahorse Pictures

If you are unable to witness this beautiful animal in its proximity with the naked eye, you can still have the pleasure of viewing it in the vivid seahorse pictures. Viewing the photographs, you will see that in spite of being bony fish, they do not have scales, but rather their thin skin is stretched over a series of bony plates.

The bony plates, on the other hand, are arranged in the form of rings throughout the body, and each of the presently surviving species has a distinct number of rings. The characteristic feature of swimming in the upright mode in seahorses is not shared by their close relative pipefish that are adapted to the mode of swimming horizontally. However, it is to be realized that razor fish are the only other fish that can swim vertically like a seahorse. While viewing its pictures, you will also come across a unique characteristic of flexible and well-defined neck region, which is unusual among fish.

Interesting Seahorse Facts:

Besides adding to the existing pool of your knowledge about the animal kingdom, you can also entertain yourself by going through the following interesting seahorse facts and information:

• It is interesting to note that a coronet supported on the head is distinct for each individual.
• When fully grown up, pygmy seahorses measure as small as less than an inch!
• As mentioned in Guinness Book of World Records, seahorses are the slowest moving fish in the ocean.
• Do you know a dwarf seahorse moves at the speed of less than 5 feet an hour, i.e. even slower than that of a snail?
• You can easily observe courting behavior that continues for days before potential mating takes place.
• One of the amazing courting rituals is that a male dances and shoots jets of water through his empty pouch.
• During courting, they curl their tails around each other and keep on floating for hours in the same posture.
• One of the most interesting seahorse facts is that these are the males that get pregnant instead of females.
• To expel her eggs into the male’s stomach pouch, a female seahorse makes use of the ovipositor.
• The fertilization of eggs takes place inside male’s stomach pouch. The sperms are initially released in water which float to reach the eggs in pouch.

Seahorse Facts for Kids:

Here follows a list of interesting seahorse facts for kids:

• Seahorses are not actually horses—these are a type of fish dwelling in oceans!
• Instead of legs, they use fin-like structures to move very slowly in water.
• Compared with a terrestrial horse, a seahorse has got relatively very small body size.
• Unlike most other fish, they do not have scales on their body.
• In case of stress, they can easily change the body color to camouflage themselves into the environment.
• While eating or interacting with other members, these animals make clicking sounds.
• Do you know less than 1 percent of eggs develop into a mature individual?
• Though usually seen staying with the same mate throughout the breeding season, they are not actually monogamous and may change the partner in next season.
• The use of seahorses in medicine by many Asian nations is contributing to decline in their population.
• To take rest, these horse-like sea monsters curl their tails around a seaweed or coral.