The very appearance of these fish evokes pleasant associations with childhood, toys and fairy tales.
The horse swims in an upright position and tilts its head so gracefully that, looking at it, it is impossible not to compare it with some small magical horse.
It is covered not with scales, but with bone plates. However, in his shell he is so light and fast that he literally floats in the water, and his body shimmers with all colors - from orange to dove-blue, from lemon yellow to fiery red. Judging by the brightness of its colors, this fish can be compared with tropical birds.
Seahorses inhabit the coastal waters of tropical and subtropical seas. But they are also found in the North Sea, for example, near south coast England. They choose quieter places; They don't like the turbulent current.
Among them there are dwarfs the size of a little finger, and there are giants about thirty centimeters. The smallest species - Hippocampus zosterae (dwarf seahorse) - is found in Gulf of Mexico. Its length does not exceed four centimeters, and the body is very hardy.
In the Black and Mediterranean Seas you can find the long-snouted, spotted Hippocampus guttulatus, whose length reaches 12-18 centimeters. The most famous are representatives of the species Hippocampus kuda, which lives off the coast of Indonesia. Seahorses of this species (their length is 14 centimeters) are brightly and variegatedly colored, some with specks, others with stripes. The largest seahorses are found near Australia.
Whether they are dwarfs or giants, seahorses look alike like brothers: a trusting look, capricious lips and an elongated “horse” muzzle. Their tail is curved towards the belly, and their head is decorated with horns. It is impossible to confuse these graceful and colorful fish, which look like jewelry or toys, with any inhabitant of the water element.
How does pregnancy proceed in males?
Even now, zoologists find it difficult to say how many species of seahorses there are. Possibly 30-32 species, although this figure is subject to change. The fact is that seahorses are difficult to classify. Their appearance is too changeable. And they know how to hide in such a way that a needle thrown into a haystack would be jealous.
When Amanda Vincent of Montreal's McGill University began studying seahorses in the late 1980s, she was frustrated: "At first I couldn't even notice the little ones." Masters of mimicry, in a moment of danger they change their color, repeating the color of surrounding objects. Therefore, they are easily mistaken for algae. Many seahorses, like gutta-percha dolls, can even change their body shape. They develop small growths and nodules. Some seahorses can be difficult to distinguish from corals.
This plasticity, this “color music” of the body helps them not only fool their enemies, but also seduce their partners. German zoologist Ruediger Verhasselt shares his observations: “I had a pink-red male in my aquarium. I placed a bright yellow female with red speckles next to him. The male began to look after the new fish and after a few days it turned the same color as it - even red specks appeared.”
To watch enthusiastic pantomimes and colorful confessions, you need to go underwater early in the morning. Only in the pre-dawn twilight (however, sometimes in the sunset hours) seahorses wander in pairs through the underwater thickets of algae, this sea jungle. In their confessions, they follow a funny etiquette: they nod their heads, greeting their friend, while clinging to neighboring plants with their tails. Sometimes they freeze when they come together in a “kiss.” Or they whirl around in a stormy love dance, and the males constantly inflate their bellies.
The date is over - and the fish swim away to the sides. Adju! Until next time! Seahorses usually live in monogamous pairs, loving each other to the death, which they often have in the form of nets. After the death of a partner, his half misses him, but after a few days or weeks he finds a partner again. Seahorses housed in an aquarium are particularly affected by the loss of a partner. And it happens that they die one after another, unable to bear the grief.
What is the secret of such affection? Kindred spirits? Here's how biologists explain it: By regularly walking and petting each other, seahorses synchronize their biological clocks. This helps them choose the most appropriate moment for procreation. Then their meeting drags on for several hours, or even days. They glow with excitement and spin in a dance in which, as we remember, the males inflate their bellies. It turns out that the male has a wide fold on his stomach where the female lays her eggs.
Surprisingly, in seahorses the offspring is carried by the male, having previously fertilized the eggs in the abdominal pouch.
But such behavior is not as exotic as it might seem. There are also other species of fish, for example, cichlids, in which the eggs are hatched by males. But only in seahorses do we deal with a process similar to pregnancy. The tissue on the inside of the male's brood pouch thickens, as in the uterus of mammals. This tissue becomes a kind of placenta; it connects the father's body with the embryos and nourishes them. This process is controlled by the hormone prolactin, which stimulates lactation in humans - the formation of mother's milk.
With the onset of pregnancy, walks in underwater forests stop. The male stays in an area of about one square meter. In order not to compete with him in obtaining food, the female delicately swims to the side.
After a month and a half, “birth” occurs. The seahorse presses against the seaweed stalk and inflates its belly again. Sometimes a whole day passes before the first fry slips out of the bag and into the wild. Then the young will begin to emerge in pairs, faster and faster, and soon the bag will expand so much that dozens of fry will swim out of it at the same time. The number of newborns varies among species: some seahorses hatch up to 1,600 babies, while others give birth to only two fry.
Sometimes the “birth” is so difficult that the males die from exhaustion. In addition, if for some reason the embryos die, then the male who carried them will also die.
Evolution cannot explain origins reproductive functions seahorse. The whole process of childbearing is too “unorthodox”. Indeed, the structure of the seahorse appears to be a mystery if you try to explain it as a result of evolution. As one leading expert said several years ago: “In terms of evolution, the seahorse is in the same category as the platypus. Because he is a mystery that confuses and destroys all theories trying to explain the origin of this fish! Recognize the Divine Creator, and everything will be explained.”
What do seahorses do if they're not flirting or expecting offspring? One thing is certain: they do not shine with success in swimming, which is not surprising given their constitution. They have; only three small fins: the dorsal one helps to swim forward, and two gill fins maintain vertical balance and serve as a rudder. In a moment of danger, seahorses can briefly speed up their movement, flapping their fins up to 35 times per second (some scientists even call the number “70”). They are much better at vertical maneuvers. By changing the volume of the swim bladder, these fish move up and down in a spiral.
However, most of the time the seahorse hangs motionless in the water, its tail hooked on algae, coral, or even the neck of a relative. It looks like he's ready to hang around all day. However, despite his apparent laziness, he manages to catch a lot of prey - tiny crustaceans and fry. Only recently was it possible to observe how this happens.
The seahorse does not rush after prey, but waits until it swims to it. Then he draws in water, swallowing the careless small fry. Everything happens so quickly that the naked eye cannot notice it. However, scuba diving enthusiasts say that when approaching a seahorse, you sometimes hear the sound of smacking. The appetite of this fish is amazing: as soon as it is born, the seahorse manages to swallow about four thousand miniature shrimp in the first ten hours of life.
In total, he is destined to live, if he’s lucky, four to five years. Enough time to leave behind millions of descendants. It seems that with such numbers, seahorses are assured of prosperity. However, it is not. Out of a thousand fry, on average, only two survive. All the rest themselves fall into someone's mouth. However, in this whirlwind of births and deaths, seahorses have been staying afloat for forty million years. Only human intervention can destroy this species.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, the seahorse population is rapidly declining. Thirty species of these fish are included in the Red Book, that is, almost all species known to science. Ecology is primarily to blame for this. The world's oceans are turning into a global dump. Its inhabitants are degenerating and dying out.
Just half a century ago, the Chesapeake Bay - a narrow, long bay off the coast of the American states of Maryland and Virginia (its length reaches 270 kilometers) - was considered a real paradise for seahorses. Now you can hardly find them there. Alison Scarratt, director of the National Aquarium in Baltimore, estimates that ninety percent of the bay's algae have died in the past half century, due to water pollution. But algae was the natural habitat of seahorses.
Another reason for the decline is the massive catching of seahorses off the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and the Philippines. According to Amanda Vincent, at least 26 million of these fish are caught every year. A small part of them then end up in aquariums, and the majority die. For example, these cute fish are dried and used to make souvenirs - brooches, key rings, belt buckles. By the way, for the sake of beauty, their tail is bent back, giving the body the shape of the letter S.
However, most of the seahorses caught - about twenty million, according to the World Wildlife Fund - end up with pharmacists in China, Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia and Singapore. The largest transshipment point for the sale of this “medical raw material” is Hong Kong. From here it is sold to more than thirty countries, including India and Australia. Here, a kilogram of seahorses costs about $1,300.
From these dried fish, crushed and mixed with other substances, for example with tree bark, drugs are prepared that are as popular in Japan, Korea, and China as here - aspirin or analgin. They help with asthma, cough, headaches and especially with impotence. IN Lately this Far Eastern “Viagra” has become popular in Europe.
However, even ancient authors knew that medicines could be prepared from seahorses. Thus, Pliny the Elder (24-79) wrote that in case of hair loss, one should use an ointment prepared from a mixture of dried seahorses, marjoram oil, resin and lard. In 1754, the English Gentlemen's Magazine advised nursing mothers to take seahorse extract "for the better flow of milk." Of course, old recipes can make you smile, but it is carried out now World organization health research into the “medicinal properties of the seahorse.”
Meanwhile, Amanda Vincent and a number of biologists advocate a complete ban on the uncontrolled harvesting and trade of seahorses, trying to put an end to predatory fishing, as they managed to do with whaling. The situation is that in Asia, seahorses are caught mainly by poachers. To put an end to this, the researcher created the Project Seahorse organization back in 1986, which is trying to protect seahorses in Vietnam, Hong Kong and the Philippines, as well as establish a civilized trade in them. Things are especially successful on the Philippine island of Handayan.
Residents of the local village of Handumon have been harvesting seahorses for centuries. However, in just ten years, from 1985 to 1995, their catches decreased by almost 70 percent. Therefore, the seahorse rescue program proposed by Amanda Vincent was perhaps the only hope for fishermen.
To begin with, it was decided to create a protected area with a total area of thirty-three hectares, where fishing was completely prohibited. There, all the seahorses were counted and even numbered, putting a collar on them. From time to time, divers looked into this water area and checked whether the “lazy couch potatoes”, seahorses, had swum away from here.
It was agreed that males with full brood pouches would not be caught outside the protected area. If they were caught in the net, they were thrown back into the sea. In addition, ecologists tried to replant mangroves and underwater algae forests - the natural shelters of these fish.
In some zoos - in Stuttgart, Berlin, Basel, as well as in the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the California Aquarium, breeding of these fish is successful. Perhaps they can be saved.
In the seas washing Russia, there are only two species of seahorses (although the species diversity of seahorses is great, in total there are 32 species of seahorses in different seas of the world). These are the Black Sea seahorse and the Japanese seahorse. The first lives in the Black and Azov Seas, and the second in the Japanese Sea.
“Our” seahorses are small and do not have luxurious long projections all over their bodies, like, for example, the raghorse, which lives in warm seas and masquerades as thickets of sargassum algae. Their shell modestly performs a protective function: it is very strong and is usually colored to match the background color.
Like the multitude of creatures that fill the seas, skies and land, the seahorse has no link that can connect it with any other form of life. Like all major types of living creatures, the complex seahorse was created suddenly, as the book of Genesis tells us.
The seahorse is a genus of small marine bony fish of the pipefish family of the order Acutes. The number of species of seahorses is about 50. The unusual shape of the seahorse's body resembles a chess piece of a knight. Numerous long spines and ribbon-like leathery outgrowths located on the skate’s body make it invisible among the algae and inaccessible to predators. Seahorses range in size from 2 to 30 cm, depending on the species to which a particular individual belongs. Interesting feature seahorse is that the male bears the offspring.
The taxonomy of the seahorse is very confusing due to the unique ability of these fish to change their appearance - color and even body shape. The closest relatives of seahorses are small fish - pipefish, which have much in common in the structure of the body with skates. However, the body shape and manner of movement in the water of sea “horses” is completely unusual.
The body of seahorses in water is located unconventionally for fish - vertically or diagonally. The reason for this is the relatively large swim bladder, most of which is located in the upper part of the seahorse's body. It is impossible to confuse these graceful and colorful fish, which look like jewelry or toys, with any inhabitant of the water element.
The body of a seahorse is not covered with scales, but with bony plates. Spiked armor protects them from danger. The armor is so strong that it is almost impossible to break even from a dried-up dead belly. However, in its shell it is so light and fast that it literally floats in the water, and its body shimmers with all the colors of the rainbow - from orange to bluish blue, from lemon yellow to fiery red. In terms of the brightness of its colors, this fish can be compared with tropical birds and brightly colored fish of coral reefs.
These fish live in the seas of tropical and subtropical zones. Their range encircles the entire Earth. Seahorses live in shallow waters among thickets seaweed or among the corals. These are sedentary and generally very sedentary fish. Typically, seahorses wrap their tail around a branch of coral or a tuft of sea grass and spend most of their time in this position. But large sea dragons do not know how to attach to vegetation. On short distances they swim holding their body vertically; if they have to leave the “home”, they can swim in an almost horizontal position. They swim slowly. In general, the character of these fish is surprisingly calm and meek; seahorses do not show aggression towards their fellow fish and other fish.
They feed on plankton. They track the smallest crustaceans by rolling their eyes funny. As soon as the prey approaches the miniature hunter, the seahorse inflates its cheeks, creating negative pressure in the mouth and sucks up the crustacean like a vacuum cleaner. Despite their small size, skates are big eaters and can indulge in gluttony for up to 10 hours a day.
Seahorses have only three small fins: the dorsal one helps to swim forward, and two gill fins maintain vertical balance and serve as a rudder.
In a moment of danger, seahorses can significantly accelerate their movement, flapping their fins up to 35 times per second (some scientists even put the figure at 70). They are also masterful at vertical maneuvers. By changing the volume of the swim bladder, these fish move up and down in a spiral. However, seahorses are not capable of swimming quickly - they are considered the record holders for the slowest swimming among known fish. Most of the time, the seahorse hangs motionless in the water, its tail hooked on algae, coral, or even the neck of a relative.
Skates can ride “astride” fish. Thanks to their curved tail, seahorses can travel long distances. They grab onto the fins of the perch and hold on until the fish swims into the algae thickets. And the skates grab their mate with their tail and swim in an embrace.
Seahorses have large eyes and quite sharp vision. Their tail is curved toward the belly, and their heads are decorated with horns of various shapes.
The skates' eyes move independently of one another. The seahorse's organ of vision is similar to the eyes of a chameleon. One eye of these fish can look forward, and the other can see what is happening behind.
Seahorses have the ability to change the color of their bodies, which allows them to skillfully camouflage themselves in thickets and among the bottom landscape. A lurking seahorse is almost impossible to spot in ambush unless you look extremely closely. The ability to camouflage is necessary for seahorses both for protection and for successful hunting, because they are active predators.
In the seas washing the shores of Russia, seahorses are represented by only two or three species - the Black Sea seahorse: found in the Black and Azov Seas, as well as the Japanese seahorse, living in the Sea of Japan. Occasionally in the Black Sea you can find a long-faced seahorse, common in the seas of the Mediterranean basin. For permanent residence, seahorses choose quieter places; They do not like stormy currents and noisy tidal waves.
Seahorses are monogamous fish; they live in married pairs, but can periodically change partners. It is characteristic that these fish carry eggs, with males and females changing roles. During the mating season, females grow a tube-shaped ovipositor, and in the male, thickened folds in the tail area form a pouch. Before spawning, partners perform a long mating dance.
The female lays eggs in the male's pouch and he carries them for about 2 weeks. Newborn fry emerge from the pouch through a narrow opening. Sea dragons do not have a pouch and hatch eggs on the stem of their tail. The fertility of different species ranges from 5 to 1500 fry. Newborn fish are completely independent and move away from the parent pair.
Among the seahorses there are also very small representatives, a couple of centimeters in size, and there are also, of a kind, giants up to 30 centimeters long. The smallest species, the pygmy seahorse, is found in the Gulf of Mexico. Its length does not exceed four centimeters. In the Black and Mediterranean Seas you can find a long-faced or spotted seahorse, the length of which reaches 12-18 centimeters. The most famous are representatives of the species Hippocampus kuda, which lives off the coast of Indonesia. Seahorses of this species, about 14 centimeters long, are brightly and variegatedly colored, some with speckles, others with stripes. The largest seahorses are found near Australia.
The life expectancy of seahorses is, on average, 3-4 years. The extreme vitality of these fish is known - once removed from the water, they can live for several hours and return to normal life if they are released into their native element.
The seahorse has few natural enemies - its body is extremely bony and covered with bony formations. Therefore, only the big one hunts him land crab, which is capable of digesting such difficult-to-digest prey. Seahorses are not dangerous to humans. This is a peaceful, harmless fish, and also very small.
The greatest danger to seahorses is man himself. Nowadays, seahorses are on the verge of extinction - their numbers are rapidly declining. 30 species of seahorses out of 32 are listed in the Red Book. known to science. There are many reasons for this, and one of them is the massive catching of skates off the coast of Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and the Philippines. Exotic appearance fish doomed them to the fact that people use them as souvenirs and gifts.
A separate point in the decline in seahorse populations is the fact that the taste of these fish is extremely valued by gourmets. Seahorse liver and caviar are considered a delicacy, although they have some laxative properties. A seahorse dish costs up to $800 per serving in some restaurants.
A huge number of seahorses (according to some estimates - up to 80 million seahorses per year) are used in the countries of the Pacific region of Asia and in Australia for the production of medicines and potions. These medications are used as pain relievers, for coughs and asthma, and also as a remedy for impotence. IN last years this Far Eastern “Viagra” has become popular in Europe. ABOUT healing properties People have known seahorse meat since ancient times. Seahorses have been used to prepare various medicines and potions in many countries.
It is not very easy to keep seahorses in aquariums; they are demanding of food and are susceptible to disease, but it is very interesting to watch them.
Seahorses can sing. During the mating season, they perform peculiar dances around their partners and accompany themselves with clicking sounds, the tempo of which can vary.
Based on anatomical, molecular and genetic studies, the seahorse has been identified as a highly modified pipefish. Fossilized remains of seahorses are quite rare. The most studied fossils of the species Hippocampus guttulatus (synonym - H. ramulosus) from the formations of the Marecchia River (Italian province of Rimini). These finds are dated to the Lower Pliocene (about 3 million years ago). The earliest seahorse fossils are believed to be two Middle Miocene spinyfish species, Hippocampus sarmaticus and Hippocampus slovenicus, discovered in Slovenia. Their age is estimated at 13 million years. According to the molecular clock method, the seahorse and pipefish species diverged in the late Oligocene. There is a theory that this genus appeared in response to the emergence of large areas of shallow waters, which was caused by tectonic events. The appearance of vast shallows led to the spread of algae, and, as a result, the animals living in this environment.
The seahorse is a small fish, which is a representative of the Spine family from the order Stickleback. Research has shown that the seahorse is a highly modified pipefish. Today the seahorse is a rather rare creature. In this article you will find a description and photo of a seahorse and learn a lot of new and interesting things about this extraordinary creature.
The seahorse looks very unusual and its body shape resembles a chess piece of a horse. The seahorse fish has many long bony spines and various leathery projections on its body. Thanks to this body structure, the seahorse appears unnoticed among the algae and remains inaccessible to predators. The seahorse looks amazing, it has small fins, its eyes rotate independently of each other, and its tail is curled into a spiral. The seahorse looks diverse, because it can change the color of its scales.
The seahorse looks small, its size depends on the species and varies from 4 to 25 cm. In the water, the seahorse swims vertically, unlike other fish. This is due to the fact that the seahorse’s swim bladder consists of an abdominal and a head part. The head bladder is larger than the abdominal one, which allows the seahorse to maintain an upright position when swimming.
Now the seahorse is becoming increasingly rare and is on the verge of extinction due to a rapid decline in numbers. There are many reasons for the disappearance of the seahorse. The main one is the destruction by humans of both the fish itself and its habitats. Off the coast of Australia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, pipits are being caught en masse. The exotic appearance and bizarre body shape are the reason why people began to make gift souvenirs from them. For beauty, the tail is artificially arched and the body is given the shape of the letter “S”, but in nature skates do not look like that.
Another reason that contributes to the decline in the seahorse population is that they are a delicacy. Gourmets highly value the taste of these fish, especially the eyes and liver of seahorses. In a restaurant, the cost of one serving of this dish is $800.
In total, there are about 50 species of seahorses, 30 of which are already listed in the Red Book. Luckily, seahorses are very fertile and can produce over a thousand young at a time, keeping the seahorses from going extinct. Seahorses are bred in captivity, but this fish is very demanding to keep. One of the most extravagant seahorses is the rag-picker seahorse, which you can see in the photo below.
The seahorse lives in tropical and subtropical seas. The seahorse fish lives mainly at shallow depths or near the shore and leads a sedentary lifestyle. The seahorse lives in dense thickets of algae and other marine vegetation. It attaches itself to plant stems or corals with its flexible tail, remaining almost invisible due to its body covered with various projections and spines.
The seahorse fish changes body color to completely blend in with environment. In this way, the seahorse successfully camouflages itself not only from predators, but also while foraging for food. The seahorse is very bony, so few people want to eat it. The main hunter of the seahorse is the large land crab. The seahorse can travel long distances. To do this, it attaches its tail to the fins of various fish and hangs on them until the “free taxi” swims into the algae thickets.
What do seahorses eat?
Seahorses eat crustaceans and shrimp. Seahorses eat very interestingly. The tubular stigma, like a pipette, draws prey into the mouth along with water. Seahorses eat quite a lot and hunt almost the whole day, taking short breaks of a couple of hours.
Seahorses eat about 3 thousand planktonic crustaceans per day. But seahorses eat almost any food, as long as it does not exceed the size of their mouth. The seahorse fish is a hunter. With its flexible tail, the seahorse clings to the algae and remains motionless until the prey is in the required proximity to the head. After which the seahorse absorbs water along with food.
How do seahorses reproduce?
Seahorses reproduce quite in an unusual way, because their fry is carried by the male. Seahorses often have monogamous pairs. The mating season of seahorses is an amazing sight. A couple who are about to enter into a marriage union are held together by their tails and dance in the water. During the dance, the skates press against each other, after which the male opens a special pocket in the abdominal area, into which the female throws eggs. Subsequently, the male bears offspring for a month.
Seahorses reproduce quite often and produce large offspring. A seahorse gives birth to one thousand or more young at a time. The fry are born an absolute copy of the adults, only very tiny. The babies that are born are left to their own devices. In nature, a seahorse lives for about 4-5 years.
If you liked this article and you like to read about animals, subscribe to site updates to be the first to receive the latest and most interesting articles about animals.
The Black Sea seahorse is an indigenous inhabitant of the Black Sea, having formed into a separate species about 20 million years ago. Nature rewarded him with an original appearance, and in the course of evolution, unique capabilities and skills appeared that were inaccessible to other inhabitants of the underwater world. Human actions have brought the pipits to the brink of extinction, forcing biologists to include them in the Red Book.
Description
In biological encyclopedias, the Black Sea seahorse is called Hippocampus guttulatus (long-snouted seahorse) and belongs to the class of ray-finned fish. Its upper part is similar to a chess “horse”, and the elongated tubular mouth-pump (a third of the length of the head) only enhances the similarity. The head is located perpendicular to the body and can move up/down, which other types of fish are not able to do. The eyes work independently of each other, and the viewing angle reaches 300 degrees.
The seahorse's body is elongated and slightly flattened laterally and is constantly in an upright position due to a double air bladder, the upper section of which is smaller than the lower one. It ends with a long and flexible tail without a blade-fin, capable of curling into a ring. Their skates cling to algae, hiding from danger or ambushing prey.
Sea Horse
Photo: http://zapcity.fr
For protective purposes, the body of the skate is covered with horny plates, spines of various lengths and growths, which serve as an additional means of camouflage in thickets of algae. The shell is highly durable and does not lose its properties even after drying. Having a brownish-yellow color with small white dots, they are able to change color, adapting to their surroundings.
Seahorses swim vertically and not very quickly, making up to 70 “swings” per second with their dorsal fin, helping themselves oscillatory movements body and tail. Under the head there are two more small fins, corresponding in their functions to the pectoral fins in fish of “standard” shapes.
Male seahorses are usually larger and grow up to 20-21 centimeters, females up to 17-18. The usual life expectancy does not exceed 4-5 years.
Habitats and food
The seahorse lives in the waters of the Black, Azov and Mediterranean seas, off the eastern shores of the Atlantic Ocean, from the Netherlands to the African coast. It chooses places with a depth of up to 20 meters, with the obligatory presence of underwater vegetation, where it spends about 90% of its life, setting up ambushes and hiding from predators. Prefers waters without strong currents.
They mostly live in small groups of 3-5 individuals, almost never gathering in large numbers. But they can also create couples for life, especially living in artificial conditions aquariums. Moreover, if one of the partners dies, the second one grieves very much, which is noticeable by a change in behavior, and may also die.
“Seed pair” of seahorses Photo: https://c2.staticflickr.com
The seahorse feeds using a mouth-pump, drawing in food along with water at great speed, from distances of up to 4 centimeters. Its food consists of small benthic inhabitants of the sea, crustaceans, fish fry, and plankton, which it catches from ambush in algae. It is worth noting the appetite of animals that “lunch” at least 5 times a day and are able to do this for up to 10 hours a day.
Interesting fact: seahorses bear and give birth to males, not females.
Spawning
Unlike most animals, males are responsible for the reproduction of seahorses, who bear and “feed” the eggs and give birth to offspring. At the same time, females carefully choose their future father, and their mating dances can last 3 days. At this time, the pipits swim into shallow water (up to 4 meters), swim together, periodically rising to the surface, exchange songs of clicking sounds and even “kiss”, touching with their pumping mouths.
Seahorse in the waters of the Black Sea Photo: wikimedia.org
When foreplay ends, the female lays eggs (depending on size, from 10 to 650 eggs). For this purpose, in the lower part of the male’s abdominal cavity there is an egg sac-pocket, penetrated by a circulatory system to supply oxygen to the developing larvae. After filling (sometimes the pipit accepts eggs from several females), its seam closes and closes, and the “father” carries out internal fertilization of the eggs.
Gestation of eggs occurs for about 4-5 weeks. All this time, the seahorse is in shallow water, without leaving a square meter of its “personal” area, where it hunts and hides. This is his territory, from where even “frivolous” females leave in order to provide the “nursing father” with a sufficient amount of food.
After the formation of the fry, which are completely ready for independent life, difficult labor begins - the male can squirm for up to 2 days, trying to open the birth sac. Sometimes it ends with his death. If everything went well, the small skates crawl out of the pocket and rise to the surface for a breath of air (to fill the air bladder), then return to the “dad”. For some time they live next to him, hiding in a “bag” in case of danger, but soon they swim away and never return.
Use of seahorses
Seahorses are used by humans in several areas, one of which is aesthetic. Vacationers on the Black Sea coast willingly buy these original species of animals as souvenirs, or try to “domesticate” them by placing them in an aquarium. In the second case, death is also almost inevitable, since the skates do not tolerate changes well, especially if their “half” remains in the sea.
Sea Horse Another area where seahorses are widely used is ethnoscience, especially among the peoples of Asia. According to traditional healers, medicines from animals help in the treatment of baldness, skin diseases, atherosclerosis, cough and asthma. The drugs are especially popular in the treatment of impotence and sexual dysfunctions. The ability to bind harmful carcinogens and toxic substances in the human body is also noted, which helps in the prevention of cancer.
Many have seen these sea creatures on TV or in aquariums, but not everyone realizes how surprising interesting facts about the seahorse can be. These beautiful representatives of fish amaze with their unique properties. However, in wildlife It's very difficult to watch them. Moreover, the number of seahorses has recently declined sharply due to the destruction of their habitats.
- Seahorses are the only fish with necks. Scientists have proven that seahorses are relatives of needle fish. True, during evolution their body has changed a lot. Unlike other fish, skates are located vertically in the water due to the fact that the swim bladder is distributed throughout the body. The S-shaped body shape allows skates to successfully hunt from cover. They freeze among the seaweed or reefs, and when a tiny larva swims by, they grab it by turning their heads.
- Skates can ride on fish. Thanks to their curved tail, seahorses can travel long distances. They grab onto the fins of the perch and hold on until the fish swims into the algae thickets. And the skates grab their mate with their tail and swim in an embrace.
- Skates' eyes move independently of each other. The seahorse's organ of vision is similar to the eyes of a chameleon. One eye of these fish can look forward, and the other can see what is happening behind.
- Master of Disguise Skates. The ability to change color depending on location allows seahorses to avoid numerous enemies. Just like chameleons, pipits match the color of their scales to the color of coral or algae, making them almost invisible.
- Seahorses have an excellent appetite. They don't have teeth, they don't even have a stomach. In order not to die, these fish have to eat constantly. With their proboscis, pipits suck in plankton, small larvae and crustaceans. Moreover, this happens so quickly that it is difficult to track.
- Almost no one eats seahorses. These small fish can become prey for other predators only by accident. They consist almost entirely of bones, spines and scales, so there are few hunters for them, except perhaps stingrays and large crabs.
- Seahorses are susceptible to stress. Mortal danger are often stressful for seahorses. These fish thrive in clean, calm water. Strong sea motion leads to depletion of their strength. And with a sudden change of location, they may even die. Therefore, it is difficult to breed skates in aquariums; they do not take root well in an artificial environment.
- The female chooses the male herself. We can say that seahorses have a matriarchy. After all, it is the females who decide which male to choose as a spouse.
- Seahorses perform mating dances. For several days, the female performs a kind of dance with her supposed chosen one, rising to the surface of the water and sinking to the bottom, intertwining her tails. If the male lags behind the bride, she will most likely leave him and look for another, more profitable match.
- Male seahorses are "pregnant". If the female has chosen a suitable male, then she remains faithful to him until the end of her life. She entrusts the male with bearing the eggs and caring for the offspring. The female transfers the eggs to a special pouch on the male’s body. There, future skates grow within a month and a half. And then they are born as full-fledged fish. One male can simultaneously produce from 5 to 1.5 thousand fry. However, male seahorses still cannot be called pregnant. After all, fry are not born in their body, but are only kept until full maturity. This is a function of protecting future offspring.
10
- Skates are fragile, but tenacious. One in a hundred seahorse fry born survives to become full-fledged adults. This is a very high indicator for fish. It is thanks to this indicator that seahorses have not become extinct to this day.
11
- The horse is on the coat of arms of the city of Zaozersk. For several years in a row, a seahorse was depicted on the coat of arms of the Russian city of Zaozersk (Murmansk region). The image was supposed to symbolize the naval power of the Northern Fleet. But, since seahorses are not found in the waters of the Barents Sea, the image of the seahorse was replaced by the image of a dolphin. It should be noted that seahorses are inhabitants of tropical and subtropical salt water bodies. And the most large seas Not all of Russia is included in this list.
12
- 30 species of skates are listed in the Red Book. But science knows only 32 species of these fish. There are several reasons for the extinction of seahorses. But almost all of them are related to human activity. In Thailand, Australia, and Malaysia, skates are caught to be dried and used as souvenirs. In oriental medicine they are used to prepare medicines for asthma and skin diseases. In addition, the habitats of seahorses are polluted or completely destroyed by humans. And plankton useful for skates is often eaten by jellyfish, which are favorably affected by climate change.
- Seahorses are a delicacy. A dish using the liver and eyes of seahorses is served in the most expensive restaurants in the world. These parts of skates are considered very tasty and healthy. The cost of the delicacy is on average $800 per serving. And in China, fried skates are served on sticks.
14
- Skates have lived on Earth for 40 million years.. Although fossilized seahorses are rare, scientists have proven that these fish have existed for tens of millions of years. They appeared at a time when, as a result of tectonic shifts in the earth's crust, shallows formed in the oceans and algae began to spread.
We hope you liked the selection of pictures - Interesting Facts about the seahorse (15 photos) online good quality. Please leave your opinion in the comments! Every opinion is important to us.
