SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION
COMMON NAME:
seahorse
KINGDOM:
Animalia
PHYLUM:
Chordata
CLASS:
Osteichthyes
ORDER:
Sygnathiformes
FAMILY:
Syngnathidae
GENUS SPECIES:
Hippocampus spp.
FAST FACTS DESCRIPTION:
Seahorses are elongate with rigid body armor and swim upright. Pectoral fins on the sides and a small dorsal fin on the back of a seahorse's body wave rapidly to move the seahorse through the water. They feed using small mouths at the end of tubular snouts.
SIZE:
The various species range in size from about 5 to 36 cm (2-14 in.) in length.
WEIGHT:
No data
DIET:
Plankton and fish larvae
INCUBATION:
Ovoviviparous ("egg live birth"). Incubation may last 2-6 weeks, depending on the species. After the embryos have developed, the male gives birth to tiny seahorses, some as small as 1 cm (0.4 in.) long.
SPAWN SIZE
A female seahorse deposits 100 or more eggs into a pouch on the male's abdomen. The male releases sperm into the pouch, fertilizing the eggs. The embryos develop within the male's pouch, nourished by their individual yolk sacs.
SEXUAL MATURITY:
No data
LIFE SPAN:
No data
RANGE:
Seahorses are found in temperate and tropical waters. The longsnout seahorse (Hippocampus reidi) and the Northern seahorse (Hippocampus erectus) live in the Caribbean region of the Western Atlantic. The common seahorse (Hippocampus guttulatus) lives in the Mediterranean Sea and warm areas of the Atlantic. The yellow seahorse (Hippocampus kuda) lives in the Indo-Pacific. The Pacific seahorse (Hippocampus ingens) is the only seahorse on the eastern Pacific coast, ranging from California to Peru.
HABITAT:
Typically found in shallow waters with abundant vegetation
POPULATION:
GLOBAL
No data
STATUS:
IUCN
Several species listed as Vulnerable or Data Deficient; 1 species listed as Endangered
CITES
Several species listed as Appendix II
USFWS
Not listed
FUN FACTS
1.A seahorse is a type of fish closely related to pipefishes and belonging to the scientific family Syngnathidae. Roughly 35 species of seahorse occur worldwide.
2.The seahorse's scientific genus name, Hippocampus, is Greek for "bent horse".
3.The seahorse may appear as if it wears armor; its body is covered with bony rings and ridges.
4.Seahorses are well camouflaged among the relatively tall eelgrasses and seaweeds in which they make their homes. A seahorse often moors itself in the water by curling its prehensile tail around seagrass and coral branches.
5.The seahorse's small mouth, located at the end of its tube-like snout, sucks up tiny plankton and fish larvae.
6.For more information about bony fishes, explore the bony fishes info book.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Sea horses information
Experts are working hard to protect one of the ocean’s most exotic creatures. The creature has a crested, curled tail, and a tiny, horse-like head. It has enchanted people for thousands of years. What is this delicate, diminutive sea creature? Why, it’s a sea horse, of course!
In ancient Rome, the people believed that when Neptune, the god of the ocean, traveled, he swished through the water in a chariot drawn by gigantic, enchanted horses who could breathe underwater. When fishermen first saw the minute sea horses, they thought that they must be the offspring of Neptune’s horses, and they were fascinated with the little creatures.
Now we know that sea horses are, of course, not horses at all, they are merely a unique kind of fish. But these petite sea creatures with the elongated snout still seem as magical to us as they were to the ancient Romans: They are playful and graceful, and divers often stop to watch these marvelous creatures frolic around in the depths of the sea.
Sea horses don’t have scales the way that many other kinds of fish do. Instead, they have bony plates underneath their skin, like a small suit of armor to protect them from harm. There are numerous different kinds of sea horses, and they come in varying colors and sizes. Sea horses can be very tiny, and some are no larger than the length of the fingernail on your pinkie finger. Many types of sea horses have a unique way to camouflage themselves and hide from their enemies. Some can change colors, and chameleon-like, blend in with their surroundings. Some sea horses look so much like their surroundings that it is difficult to see them unless one is looking closely, and this helps to hide them from predators. One kind of sea horse even grows hair-like skin extensions so that they will blend in with the plant life whose fronds wave gently in the water of the ocean.
It is the male, not female, sea horses who are impregnated, and they can have up to 1500 babies at one time. Males have a special patch or pouch on their belly that provides incubation for the female’s eggs. The female transfers the eggs to the male’s pouch, and they then attach to the wall of the male’s pouch. After the male fertilizes the eggs, they are retained within the brood pouch to develop. When the young hatch, the male expels them from the pouch and they emerge looking like miniature versions of the adults. During the entire pregnancy, a mated pair of sea horses will dance in the water together every day just after the sun has risen. Scientists have speculated for years on the reason for this, but no one really knows why the sea horses execute this peculiar, beautiful greeting dance.
Today, sea horse populations face an unpredictable future. They are not as yet on the endangered list, or even the potentially threatened list, but scientists and other experts are worried. Fishermen are catching far too many of them, and more of their underwater habitats are destroyed each day by pollution and other human carelessness. Sea horse specialists from thirteen countries recently met at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois. They were there to give, and receive, ideas to save these lovely, frisky fish. Some sea horse experts are trying to promote a program to teach fishermen to become sea horse farmers. Instead of pulling millions of sea horses from the ocean each year, fishermen could raise them in saltwater farms, thus sparing the ocean population of sea horses.
We know many things about sea horses, but there are still plenty of mysteries left to discover. That is why experts are coming up with solutions to protect future populations of the sea horse. We still have a lot to learn about this fascinating fish, and scientists are trying to find ways of preserving the ocean population of the sea horse.
In ancient Rome, the people believed that when Neptune, the god of the ocean, traveled, he swished through the water in a chariot drawn by gigantic, enchanted horses who could breathe underwater. When fishermen first saw the minute sea horses, they thought that they must be the offspring of Neptune’s horses, and they were fascinated with the little creatures.
Now we know that sea horses are, of course, not horses at all, they are merely a unique kind of fish. But these petite sea creatures with the elongated snout still seem as magical to us as they were to the ancient Romans: They are playful and graceful, and divers often stop to watch these marvelous creatures frolic around in the depths of the sea.
Sea horses don’t have scales the way that many other kinds of fish do. Instead, they have bony plates underneath their skin, like a small suit of armor to protect them from harm. There are numerous different kinds of sea horses, and they come in varying colors and sizes. Sea horses can be very tiny, and some are no larger than the length of the fingernail on your pinkie finger. Many types of sea horses have a unique way to camouflage themselves and hide from their enemies. Some can change colors, and chameleon-like, blend in with their surroundings. Some sea horses look so much like their surroundings that it is difficult to see them unless one is looking closely, and this helps to hide them from predators. One kind of sea horse even grows hair-like skin extensions so that they will blend in with the plant life whose fronds wave gently in the water of the ocean.
It is the male, not female, sea horses who are impregnated, and they can have up to 1500 babies at one time. Males have a special patch or pouch on their belly that provides incubation for the female’s eggs. The female transfers the eggs to the male’s pouch, and they then attach to the wall of the male’s pouch. After the male fertilizes the eggs, they are retained within the brood pouch to develop. When the young hatch, the male expels them from the pouch and they emerge looking like miniature versions of the adults. During the entire pregnancy, a mated pair of sea horses will dance in the water together every day just after the sun has risen. Scientists have speculated for years on the reason for this, but no one really knows why the sea horses execute this peculiar, beautiful greeting dance.
Today, sea horse populations face an unpredictable future. They are not as yet on the endangered list, or even the potentially threatened list, but scientists and other experts are worried. Fishermen are catching far too many of them, and more of their underwater habitats are destroyed each day by pollution and other human carelessness. Sea horse specialists from thirteen countries recently met at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois. They were there to give, and receive, ideas to save these lovely, frisky fish. Some sea horse experts are trying to promote a program to teach fishermen to become sea horse farmers. Instead of pulling millions of sea horses from the ocean each year, fishermen could raise them in saltwater farms, thus sparing the ocean population of sea horses.
We know many things about sea horses, but there are still plenty of mysteries left to discover. That is why experts are coming up with solutions to protect future populations of the sea horse. We still have a lot to learn about this fascinating fish, and scientists are trying to find ways of preserving the ocean population of the sea horse.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Rare seahorses born at aquarium
More than 120 endangered baby seahorses have been born at a Hampshire aquarium.
The arrival of the short-snouted seahorses at Portsmouth's Blue Reef Aquarium is part of a nationwide captive breeding programme.
There are believed to be two separate species of seahorse found in British waters - the short-snouted and the long-snouted.
The short-snouted seahorse is usually found in shallow muddy waters, estuaries or inshore among seaweed.
Populations have been discovered along the south coast, in the River Thames, in the Channel Islands and Ireland.
'Souvenir trade threat' Blue Reef Aquarium spokesman Robbie Robinson said: "This is the first time we have successfully bred short-snouted seahorses here and for so many to have been born is fantastic.
"They are all being looked after in special nursery tanks and are being fed on a diet of microscopic live shrimp.
"It's obviously very early days but we're keeping our fingers crossed that many of the babies will survive into adulthood and help boost the captive bred populations of these endangered and beautiful fish."
The seahorse is unique in the animal kingdom because it is the male rather than the female that carries the babies and gives birth to them via a special brood pouch on his stomach.
The female seahorse lays her eggs in the male's pouch and he fertilises them and incubates them.
There are about 34 species of seahorse in the world and virtually all of them are under threat from loss of habitat, pollution, the souvenir trade and traditional Far East medicine, which is thought to account for the deaths of more than 20 million seahorses every year.
The short-snouted seahorse, or Hippocampus hippocampus, is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
The arrival of the short-snouted seahorses at Portsmouth's Blue Reef Aquarium is part of a nationwide captive breeding programme.
There are believed to be two separate species of seahorse found in British waters - the short-snouted and the long-snouted.
The short-snouted seahorse is usually found in shallow muddy waters, estuaries or inshore among seaweed.
Populations have been discovered along the south coast, in the River Thames, in the Channel Islands and Ireland.
'Souvenir trade threat' Blue Reef Aquarium spokesman Robbie Robinson said: "This is the first time we have successfully bred short-snouted seahorses here and for so many to have been born is fantastic.
"They are all being looked after in special nursery tanks and are being fed on a diet of microscopic live shrimp.
"It's obviously very early days but we're keeping our fingers crossed that many of the babies will survive into adulthood and help boost the captive bred populations of these endangered and beautiful fish."
The seahorse is unique in the animal kingdom because it is the male rather than the female that carries the babies and gives birth to them via a special brood pouch on his stomach.
The female seahorse lays her eggs in the male's pouch and he fertilises them and incubates them.
There are about 34 species of seahorse in the world and virtually all of them are under threat from loss of habitat, pollution, the souvenir trade and traditional Far East medicine, which is thought to account for the deaths of more than 20 million seahorses every year.
The short-snouted seahorse, or Hippocampus hippocampus, is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
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