A sea horse is not really a horse. It’s a small fish with a head that resembles that of a horse. Most sea horses are tiny. In fact, the common sea horse, the biggest kind of sea horse, is only about 5 inches (13 centimeters) long.
Sea horses are truly unique, and not just because of their unusual equine shape. Unlike most other fish, they 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.
Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/
Sea horses are some of the strangest looking fish. A sea horse has big eyes and a long, tube-shaped mouth that looks like the snout of a horse. It has a slim or slender body and a thin, flexible tail. Hard, bony rings that are like armor cover a sea horse’s body. Bony spines near the top of its back resemble a horse’s ears.
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WHERE DO SEA HORSES LIVE?
Sea horses are a kind of fish called pipefish. Like most pipefish, sea horses live in warm, tropical seas all over the world. But some sea horses live in cooler seas. Most sea horses live in shallow waters close to shore.
There are about 30 species (kinds) of sea horse. The common sea horse lives along the Atlantic coast of North America.
HOW DO SEA HORSES SWIM?
Like all fish, sea horses can swim. Sea horses can swim when they are straight up in the water. A sea horse propels itself along by waving its small dorsal fin (back fin). Sea horses are slow swimmers. They swim fastest when they look like they are lying face down.
Sea horses often prefer to remain in one place. A sea horse uses its tail to hold on to water plants.
Because of their body shape, sea horses are rather inept swimmers and can easily die of exhaustion when caught in storm-roiled seas. They 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.
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. Voracious eaters, they graze continually and can consume 3,000 or more brine shrimp per day.
Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/
WHAT DOES A SEA HORSE EAT?
Sea horses and other pipefish like to eat tiny shrimp and other small animals with shells called crustaceans. Crabs, shrimp, and lobsters are big crustaceans.
Sea horses search for little crustaceans that live in clumps of underwater plants. They suck them in through their toothless snouts.
BABY SEA HORSES
Sea horses reproduce in an unusual way. A female sea horse lays her eggs in a pouch on the belly of a male sea horse. The male sea horse carries the eggs until they hatch and are ready to leave his pouch.
SEA HORSES IN AQUARIUMS
Many people keep sea horses as pets in home aquariums (water tanks). Sea horses are delicate and need special care. Each sea horse needs at least 2 gallons (8 liters) of sea water to stay healthy. Pieces of coral and other objects should be placed in the aquarium for sea horses to cling to.
A good diet for sea horses is live food, such as baby brine shrimp. If well cared for, sea horses can live as long as six years.
Related tags or keywords in the lesson
- animals
- Atlantic ocean
- fish
- horse
- marine life
- reproduction
