Seahorses By: Colleen Cline

Feeding• Seahorses feed mostly

on small living animals such as daphnia, Cyclops, larvae of water insects, or mysids.

• They hunt in an ambush style.

• Adult seahorses tend to feed more optimally then juveniles.

• Seahorses perform a head flick to grab their food.

Habitat• Seahorses usually

occur in the tropics or along temperate coasts.

• They prefer a vegetated habitat over open water because they are poor swimmers.

• During the winter the seahorses preferred to move into deeper water where they could to avoid the severe winter storms.

Behavior

• When seahorses are hungry, they move and hunt freely; however, most of the time they stay attached by their tails to see weed.

• Seahorses also tend to swim in pairs linked by their tales.

• Their swimming tends to be weak because they are only able to use their one small dorsal fin in an undulating or vibrating motion.

Systematics• Seahorses are members of

the Teleost suborder, or bony fish.

• They belong to the family Syngnathidae and most are in the Genus Hippocampus.

• Some other seahorse genera include Acentronura and Phyllopteryx.

• There are about forty total species of seahorses in these three genera.

• Four species are known to live in the United States.

Predators • Seahorse predators include

crabs, rays and tuna. Storms can cause seahorses to be torn away from where they are clinging and tossed ashore. Tossed around in stormy waters, seahorses can die of exhaustion if they are unable to grab hold of something with their tail.

• People threaten the seahorse's survival. Polluted water and fishing pose dangers, but also they are hunted to be used for medicine, cooking or for souvenirs.

Reproduction• The males are pregnant for

several weeks before giving birth to their brood.  When they prepare to give birth, the pouch extends to an almost spherical shape.  The male also undergoes muscular contortions - a forward and a backward bend - that last for about ten minutes.  then in an explosive action the brood leaves the pouch.  After the last young sea horse has left, the pouch returns to its normal position, which usually takes about an hour.  Males are ready to re-mate within a few hours of giving birth.

Bibliography!• http://www.bio.davidson.edu/Courses/anphys

/2000/Cook/General.htm

• http://divegallery.com/seahorse_page1.htm

• http://www.zmescience.com/ecology/first-ever-baby-sea-horse-07092010/

• http://www.epjournal.net/blog/2011/01/why-do-seahorses-look-like-horses/

• http://www.fordseahorses.org/HTML/MembershipInfo.asp

• http://divegallery.com/seahorse_page1.htm• http://www.valdosta.edu/~tyroberts/topic.html• http://www.valdosta.edu/~tyroberts/topic.html