Sea horse – wonderful creature
A sea horse is an unusual fish with a horselike head. There are more than 20 species of sea horse. They live in warm and mild seas. They are about 4 to 30 centimeters long. Seahorse is the only fish that have a neck. They live on Earth for 40 million years.
Their body is long, narrow, segmented, and encased in a series of ring-like, bony plates. They have a long, tubular snout, tipped by a small, toothless mouth. A sea horse uses its tail to anchor itself to undersea plant.
Unlike the other inhabitants of the oceans and seas seahorses swim upright. They like chameleons imitate the color of underwater plants to avoid enemies.
Seahorses have neither teeth nor stomach. Their digestive system resembles a ramjet engine, so they have to eat all the time. Sea horses mostly feed on zooplankton and other small creatures, such as fish larvae.
Penguins, crabs, tuna, stingrays and some of the very hungry predators eat sea horses.
They are monogamous, so the partners live together for all their life. After the death of one of them, a widow or widower grieves much, which can even cause death. The female decides who will be her partner. Male sea horse is the only male creature on earth that can be pregnant. The female lays her eggs in a pouch beneath the male’s tail. The male carries the eggs until they hatch. The baby sea horses look like small adults.
A pygmy seahorse generally recognized as the slowest fish in the world. It moves at a speed of 1.5 meters per hour.
In ancient times people were afraid of seahorses and they were considered chthonic beings.
About 20 million of these fish are caught annually for the Chinese traditional medicine, primarily for the treatment of impotence. Seahorses are selling for $ 600 to $ 3,000 per kilogram. As a result, almost all types of seahorse are listed in the Red Book. And Paradoxical Seahorse is thought to be extinct.
The image of sea horse was on the coat of arms of Zaozersk (city in Murmansk region, Russia).