Seahorses
Description: Seahorse in the Weeds
Image copyright: http://www.seahorses.de/seahorses.htm
The seahorse, surprisingly, is an actual fish. It has one dorsal fin on the lower body. They also have another fin near the head and gills.
Seahorses have been endangered for a while due to fishing. "Seahorses have been used in the traditional Chinese herbology for many, many years now. As many as 20 million seahorses can be caught at one time, and that is why they are endangered.", says Wikipedia.
The reproduction of a seahorse is very different from a human's reproduction: the male is the one that becomes pregnant, and not the female. Most of the pregnancies last from two to three weeks. It is easy to tell the female and male apart, because the male has a pouch below the chest area.
Have you ever wanted a seahorse as a pet? While many people that collect and keep sea life for pets, others have them as pets as well. Seahorses survive better in zoos or captivity or aquariums, they would be less likely to carry diseases.
Being humans, we eat human food, such as shrimp and lobster. Did you know that that's what seahorses eat, as well? It's true. Seahorses feed on things called crustaceans. Crustaceans are things such as crab, lobster, shrimp, and krill. Using camouflage and having a lot of patience, they attack their prey within their range. Mysid shrimp and other crustaceans are favorites of the seahorse, but they also enjoy other invertebrates and sometimes even fish.
So where do they live to get all of these crustaceans, invertebrates, and fish? Well, seahorses are usually found in a tropical climate and temperate coasts. They like a vegetated climate, and not open water because they are not very good, strong swimmers.
How do they behave? When they get hungry, they move around and hunt freely. Most of the them, they do not go free, but they stay attached to their seaweed. Their swimming is weak because they can only use their one dorsal fin.
Have you ever heard of a seahorse that changes colors? Well, there are such things. Some seahorses change colors over a period of time. An example would be an orange seahorse. It starts out orange, but in about twenty months, they are a very light and pale color. A reason for that maybe because of an unbalanced diet.
Now that I've talked about the adult seahorses, now it's time for the babies and younger seahorses. As soon as they are born, they are only a few millimeters in size. Soon after, they start to explore their new habitat. The life expectancy of a seahorse is up to four years, but that is only depending on their species.
So if we eat seafood, does seafood eat the seahorses? To answer your question, yes, they do. A seahorses predators include crabs, rays, and tuna. People are also "predators" to seahorses. Polluted water and fishing are threats to them. Other threats include cook ingredients, souvenirs, and they are hunted for medicine purposes.
I hope this has helped you learn more about seahorses. It sure did help me. This is my report. THE END
