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Lesson 13
All about seahorses!
Seahorses are fish. They are truly unique,
and
not just because of their unusual
equine shape. Unlike most other fish, they
are monogamous
and
mate for life. They
are the only animal species on Earth in
which the male bears the unborn young.
Found in tropical
and
temperate waters,
these upright-swimming can range in size
from 0.6 inches (1.5 centimeters) to 14
inches (35 centimeters) long. His average
lifespan in the wild is 1 to 5 years
(estimated).
Male seahorses are equipped with a small bag on their ventral,
or
front-facing, side. When mating, the female deposits her eggs into his
small bag,
and
the male fertilizes them internally. He carries the eggs
until they are fully formed into miniature seahorses.
Because of their body shape, seahorses are not good swimmers
and
can easily die of fatigue when caught in storm-roiled seas
but
they
push themselves by using a small fin on their back that moves up to
35 times per second
and
they also have smaller pectoral fins located
near the back of the head that are used for finding direction.
Seahorses have no teeth
and
no stomach,
but
food passes through
their digestive systems so quickly,
and
they must eat constantly to
stay alive. They anchor themselves with their tails to sea grasses
and
corals,
but
by using their big nose to suck in plankton
or
small
crustaceans that are around. They can consume 3,000
or
more
shrimps per day.
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