The Very Unusual Fish The Sea Horse
Cool facts about sea horses
The Unusual Fish The Sea Horse
Sea horses are the most unusual fish. They are the most unusual fish because they can't swim well. Their tails help them swim better. They were first put on earth 40 million years ago. Sea horses were used in Greek Mythology. The king of the sea, Poseidon had a chariot pulled by a huge sea horse. In art sea horses looked like a horses head with a fish body people thought thats what sea horses looked like. People now use sea horses for medicines or they will dry them up and use them as souvenirs.
What The Male Sea Horses Do
The males are the ones who get pregnant. When male sea horses are trying to mate it takes up to 3 days or more, and plenty of tail twining and color changing. Once the male and the female are together they do a greeting dance. Once the male is ready to carry a batch of eggs in his belly pouch then the male will go into labor and then give birth to live baby sea horses. Then the sea horses swim away and are able to look after them selves.
Picky Sea Horses
Picky sea horses just stick to a small area with just a few neighbors. Their couch-potato habits make it possible to study wild sea horses. The little sea horses are most likely to recover from their habitat changes or even population declines and long pregnancies. There 6 species and only 4 live in the U.S it's hard to keep sea horses in one place because of there population declines and habitat changes.
Predators And Prey
Sharks, stingrays and crabs prey on the sea horse. Marine biologists have seen penguins and other sea birds eat sea horses. Sea horses are able to protect them selves from these predators by changing there colors and camouflaging them selves with there surroundings. Sea horses eyes can change color if they feel scared. Other animals stick to the sea horses to make them look crusty.
Social Life With Sea Horses
Many other fish will swim in a school or a group, but sea horses do not. You might see two pairs of sea horses just not a group. Most of the time sea horses are found alone. At night sea horses maybe found in a group. Each sea horse has a home range. A home range of a male sea horse is about 11 square feet.
The Life Cycle Of A Sea Horse
A smaller species of a sea horse is ready to mate at the age 3 months. Larger species start to mate at the age of 6 months to a year old. A female has a tube coming out of her body so she can lay eggs. A male sea horse has a pouch to carry his babies. The male sea horse has pockets to carry the eggs around until they hatch.