Seahorses live all over the world, mostly in tropical and temperate zones. They enjoy shallow, sheltered places, like seagrass beds, coral reefs, mangroves estuaries ( the place where rivers meet the sea).
Sea horses come in many different shapes and sizes. Since they can't swim very fast, many rely on camouflage to protect them from predators. Try to spot the pygmy seahorse in the pink coral!
Sea horses have interesting reproductive habits. The female first lays her eggs, then the male puts them in a pouch on his stomach. To keep them safe, he carries them around for nine to forty-five days. During this time, the female gestates another litter of seahorse pups. The baby seahorses hatch from the male's pouch, and leave to fend for themselves. Within hours or days, the female gives the male another batch of eggs while she yet again begins to gestate another batch of pups. This reproductive method allows the pair of seahorses to produce twice as many offspring than if the female carried around the eggs!
Seahorses are certainly an amazing group of animals! Some types are threatened by habitat loss, pollution, or human collec-tion, while others are thriving. Some day let's hope that no seahorse has to worry about humans collecting them for decorations!
I love seahorses.
ReplyDeleteNaomie (from France)