The Seahorse By Ava Dyker
By Ava Dyker
The Seahorse
The Seahorse
The Seahorse, otherwise known as the Hippocampus, is found worldwide and is an endangered species. It has many different colours and its exact colour depends on its particular species of seahorse. The size of a common seahorse is usually about 2.5cm-30cm in length.
The Seahorses appearance is rather beautiful as it has a colourful body that is attractive. It has an exo-skeleton, which is an unbending outside covering for the body in some invertebrate animals, especially arthropods, providing both support and protection. They also have long snouts, a long tail, no teeth or stomach and they are commonly a small size. The male has a brooding pouch below its long snout.
The seahorse lives in a warm tempered part of the ocean. It is especially weedy, has eel grass beds and in the winter, they travel to deeper waters to avoid rough weathers. The seahorse eats tiny fish, brine, shrimp and plankton and its predators are fish, crabs and rays.
The male seahorse carries the eggs that the female lays, and they can lay up to 8-600 eggs depending on the particular species. The young seahorses spend their first 2-3 weeks alone drifting in the plankton layer of the ocean. Less than 1,000 will survive long enough to become an adult due to predators.
The seahorse curls its long tail around aquatic plants to hide from their predators. This covers their body allowing the seahorse to stay alive when their predators are near. They have very effective camouflage when they are hiding in coral from their predators. They are vulnerable to bad or rough weathers as they will get rocked around in the waves because they are so small. Seahorses mate for life, they meet first thing in the morning to strengthen their pair bonding with an elaborate courtship display. The female meets the male in his territory and as they approach each other, they change colour. The male circles around the female and the pair often spiral around an object. This can last up to an hour, and once this is over, the female goes back to her territory.
We use some seahorses for medicine in particular countries. Scientists believe that it helps cure you from illness. People leave seahorses on the beach to dry out, and eventually they sell them for souvenirs. They also die from pollution and rampant because of us humans.
Seahorses are decreasing in numbers rapidly. Soon they will be completely extinct, and to lose such a beautiful sea creature like the seahorse would be tragic. Help me save seahorses from extinction.
The Seahorse
The Seahorse
The seahorse curls its long tail around aquatic plants to hide from their predators. This covers their body allowing the seahorse to stay alive when their predators are near. They have very effective camouflage when they are hiding in coral from their predators. They are vulnerable to bad or rough weathers as they will get rocked around in the waves because they are so small. Seahorses mate for life, they meet first thing in the morning to strengthen their pair bonding with an elaborate courtship display. The female meets the male in his territory and as they approach each other, they change colour. The male circles around the female and the pair often spiral around an object. This can last up to an hour, and once this is over, the female goes back to her territory.
We use some seahorses for medicine in particular countries. Scientists believe that it helps cure you from illness. People leave seahorses on the beach to dry out, and eventually they sell them for souvenirs. They also die from pollution and rampant because of us humans.
Seahorses are decreasing in numbers rapidly. Soon they will be completely extinct, and to lose such a beautiful sea creature like the seahorse would be tragic. Help me save seahorses from extinction.