What is the shape of a seahorse?

The shape of the seahorse is very interesting. Although the body is only four to thirty centimeters long, its head is bent at almost a right angle to the body. The fish body is thick and flat on the sides, completely wrapped in a bone ring; the trunk is composed of 10-12 segments. It consists of a bone ring; the tail is slender and quadrangular, with a thin tip at the end, which can be curled and held; the head is curved, forming an obtuse or right angle with the trunk, with a protruding crown on the top, and a small spine on the crown end; the snout is tubular; the mouth is Small, terminal position; small gill opening; dorsal fin located between the trunk and tail; short anal fin; well-developed pectoral fin; no caudal fin; male fish has a brood pouch on the ventral side of the tail.

Its mouth is a pointed tube-shaped mouth that cannot be opened or closed, so it can only suck small animals in the water as food. Its pair of eyes is also special; they can move up and down, left and right, or forward and backward respectively. However, its own body does not need to turn, and it can use its smart eyes to look in all directions. Sometimes one eye looks forward and the other eye looks backward, which is something no other animal can do except dragonflies and chameleons. Seahorses are the least fish-like fish, combining the characteristics of horses, shrimps, and elephants. It has a horse-shaped head, dragonfly eyes, a body like a shrimp, a tail like an elephant trunk, crown-like horns, a curvature of the head at right angles to the body, and an armored body. Vertical swimming method, and the only case of male giving birth in the world.

Its fins are not easily visible to the naked eye. But with high-speed photography and careful observation, you can see the moving spines one after another. These spines can move back and forth seventy times in one second. According to the waves that pass from one end of the dorsal fin to the other, the seahorse can ride on these waves and move freely back and forth or up and down.

The structure and function of the seahorse's tail are very different from those of other fish. When resting, seahorses use the ability of their tails to curl so that their tail ends can be entangled in seaweed stems and branches. Therefore, seahorses mostly live outside the lush algae in the deep sea. The swimming posture is also very special. The head is upward and the body is slightly tilted upright in the water. It relies entirely on its dorsal and pectoral fins for movement. The fan-shaped dorsal fin plays a role in wave propulsion.

Living environment

Seahorses and sea dragons belong to the Syngnathidae family, and their water quality requirements for feeding and survival are not strict. The more common ones in the domestic aquarium market are black seahorses (Hippocampus Histrix), gray seahorses (Hippocampus Erectus) and spotted seahorses (Dunkerocampus Dactyliophorus). The more expensive red seahorses (Hippocampus Coronatus), golden seahorses (Hippocampus Kuda) and seahorses produced in Pyhllopteryx Taeniolatus is rare in Australia.

In natural sea areas, seahorses usually like to live in the slow currents of coral reefs. Because they are not good at swimming, they often use their prehensile tails to tightly outline coral branches and seaweed leaves. Go up and secure your body so as not to be swept away by the rapids. Most species of sea dragons grow at the interface between estuaries and the sea. Therefore, they can adapt to seawater areas with different concentrations and can even survive in fresh water.

Seahorses and sea dragons have very small mouths and are only suitable for feeding on live bait. They are not good at swimming and cannot hunt quickly. Although they are loved by saltwater aquarists, this unique habit makes them difficult to keep and survive in aquariums. Although brine shrimp, rotifers, and larval fry are all suitable food for them, how to enable them to fully feed is the key to the survival of seahorses and sea dragons. During the feeding process, the filter system needs to be turned off to create a A calm, flow-free environment so that they can forage slowly and methodically, and another point is their life partner-if seahorses, sea dragons and more lively fish are kept together, then during the feeding process, most of them will Most of the live bait will be eaten by those fish first... Therefore, in order to successfully raise seahorses and sea dragons, according to my experience, it is best to keep them alone in a seaweed landscaping tank with gentle water flow and quiet environment. At the same time, choose to raise the blade fish (Aeoliscus Strigatus) of the Centriscidae family, the pineapple fish (Monocentris Japonica) of the Monocentridae family, and other small fish with similar living habits together, and they will be Seahorses and sea dragons make good life partners.

Reproductive

The male and female identification of seahorses and sea dragons is very simple, that is, male fish have abdominal pouches (commonly known as: brood pouches), while female fish do not have abdominal pouches.

Seahorses are not hermaphrodites, seahorses are only male hatchlings.

Every year from May to August is the breeding period of seahorses. During this period, the seahorse mother lays her eggs in the brood sac on the abdomen of the seahorse father. After 50-60 days of eggs, the young fish will pass from the seahorse father’s abdomen. The father's brood sac is released from the baby's brood sac, so it is said that the seahorse father is responsible for raising the child, rather than the father actually giving birth to the child. The father's brood sac only acts as an incubator, and the eggs still come from the mother.

August to September is the peak season, and fishermen often set up nets to catch them at this time.