What does a seahorse eat? Seahorse: structure and habitat of the animal Poem about a seahorse

The seahorse (lat. Hippocampus) is a small sea fish of the needlefish family. This fish swims slowly in an upright position, curling its tail forward to capture algae tendrils while its alert eyes help it search for food and avoid danger.

Seahorses are among the popular pets kept in aquariums. If an aquarium with these fish is installed in any public place, they immediately attract the attention of visitors. People throng to watch these exquisite fish floating in the aquarium. Sometimes seahorses meet and connect with their tails. Then, just as elegantly, they untwist their tails and calmly disperse in different directions.

These small sea fish usually live along the shore, among seaweed and other plants. They have only one mating partner. The distance they travel does not exceed a few meters. The seahorse's body length ranges from 4 to 30 cm, and it continues to grow throughout the 4 years of its life.

The genus of seahorses is represented by 32 species: the dwarf seahorse (Atlantic species, smaller in size than other species), the brown seahorse, which lives in Europe, the large brown or blackish seahorse, which lives in Pacific Ocean, and a medium-sized (in size) seahorse that lives in Australian waters.

The seahorse is a unique creature.

The top of the seahorse's body is covered with a bony shell that protects it from danger. This shell is so hard that you cannot crush a dry dead skate with your hands. Its strong skeleton makes the seahorse unattractive to predators, so this fish is usually not touched by anyone except a large land crab, which can digest it.

The female seahorse is completely encased in this protective shell. The male's body is also enclosed in it, with the exception of the lower part of the body. The shell is often covered with numerous bone rings.

The uniqueness of the seahorse among fish is that its head is located at a right angle to its body. When a seahorse swims, its body remains upright. The seahorse's head can move up or down, but cannot turn sideways. The inability to move its head in different directions would likely cause problems in other creatures, but the Creator in His wisdom designed the seahorse so that its eyes move and rotate independently of each other, while simultaneously observing what is happening in the world. various directions From him.

In order to swim vertically, the seahorse uses fins. It sinks and rises, changing the volume of gas inside its swim bladder. If the swim bladder is damaged and even a small amount of gas is lost, the seahorse sinks to the bottom and lies helpless until death.

The male gives birth to the babies!

Perhaps the most incredible (if not strange) feature of the seahorse is that the male gives birth to the young. About it unusual phenomenon Scientists only became aware of it in the last century.

At the very base of the male seahorse's abdomen (where there is no protective shell) there is a large leathery pocket and a slit-like opening.

During the mating season, the male swims up to the female, both fish press against each other, and at this moment the male opens his pocket wide, and the female throws several eggs into it. After some time, this ritual is repeated, and again the bag of the “newlywed” is replenished with several eggs, which are fertilized the moment they get there.

The female lays eggs in the pocket until it is completely full (it can contain more than 600 eggs). The inner lining of the pocket becomes like a sponge, filled with blood vessels that play a role in feeding the eggs. This is an extraordinary feature of a male seahorse! When the laying of eggs is complete, the future dad sails away with his inflated pocket, representing a kind of living stroller for the cubs.

After one or two months, the male gives birth to tiny babies - an exact copy of the adults. The miniature addition to the family is squeezed through the hole until the bag is completely empty. Sometimes the male experiences very strong labor pains in order to push out the last cub. The birth of cute babies is an amazing sight, but for the male the process of childbirth is very grueling. Seahorses that are born are not called "sea stallions", but simply "babies".

Nowadays, seahorses are on the verge of extinction - their numbers are rapidly declining. 30 species of skate fish out of 32 known to science are listed in the Red Book. There are many reasons for this, one of them is the massive catching of pipits off the coast of Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and the Philippines. Exotic appearance fish doomed them to the fact that people use them as souvenirs and gifts. For the sake of beauty, their tail is artificially bent so as to give the body the shape of the letter S. In fact, such species of fish do not exist in nature - this is a human whim. Only great fertility saves skates from extinction: some species give birth to more than a thousand babies at a time. A separate point in the destruction of the seahorse population is the fact that the taste of these fish is valued by gourmets. According to them, the liver and eyes of seahorses are quite tasty, although they have laxative properties. The dish is served with a fig leaf and costs up to $800 per serving in the most expensive seaside restaurants.

(Photo from http://mote.org)

Scientific classification:
Kingdom: Animals
Type: Chordates
Superclass: Fish
Class: Bony fish
Subclass: Ray-finned fish
Squad: Needle-shaped
Family: Needle
Genus

The unusual appearance of the seahorse makes it a popular inhabitant of aquariums. Its bizarre vertical shape and unusual mode of movement attract attention. But before you get such a pet, you should know the rules of care, the peculiarities of its behavior and coexistence with other inhabitants.

Habitat

Seahorses live in warm tropical and subtropical waters. Found off the coast of England. Some species live in the Black and Azov Seas.

They prefer salty and clean water, quiet calm creeks. Exactly sea waves and pitching pose a great danger to such fish

Description

it is a bony fish from the pipefish family. Possesses vertical structure body, from 2 to 30 cm in height. Their body is covered with a hard bone shell. Females have a solid shell, while males have only the upper shell, the lower part is not protected.

His head does not turn and is rigidly connected to the body, but his eyes can rotate 360°, and separately from each other, like a chameleon. And like chameleons, they are able to change body color, adapting to the environment.

This helps them hide from predators or hunt for plankton. They spend their entire lives almost motionless, with their tail caught in algae or coral.

Did you know? The seahorse has virtually no natural enemies. Their body is so tough that no one has the strength to chew through the fish. They are hunted only by large land crabs that are able to digest it.

These fish have the simplest structure digestive system, they have no stomach and teeth, so they always eat. They lie in wait for their prey and suck in water along with plankton.

Before you start introducing fish into the aquarium, you need to prepare a habitat for them:

Preparing the aquarium. It is best to prepare a new one, with a wall height of 50-60 cm and a volume of 60-70 liters per individual.

Aquarium decor. The material used is quartz sand or special soil for reef aquariums. Both live and artificial brown ones are planted in it. Decorative stones, driftwood, and artificial stands are placed. All this will allow the animals to cling to their tails and hunt. It is worth providing quiet places and grottoes where skates can rest.
Water preparation. The water must be clean, filtered, and salted. The water temperature all year round should be 23-24°C. Therefore, in summer it is worth taking care of cooling, and in winter - about heating the aquarium.
Lighting. Skates cannot tolerate bright light. Therefore, it is necessary to regulate this issue if you plan to combine ordinary reef fish, corals and skates.

Filtration. The water in the aquarium should be clean and not very fast current, 10 revolutions of the entire volume of water per hour is enough. A good set for such an aquarium would be a skimmer and a pump. The skimmer will filter the water, collect sewage and feces, saturate the water with oxygen, and the pump will create a flow of optimal speed.

Important! The aquarium should not contain any potentially dangerous objects for skates that could injure or harm them. Including stinging corals and anemones.

The aquarium is now ready to move in.

Skates are monogamous; the loss of a partner often ends in death for them, so they should be purchased and housed in pairs.

Feeding

The feeding process for skates is different from feeding other fish.

Fish bred in captivity will happily accept frozen Mysis, while sea-caught pipits will refuse them and will only eat live food. Since obtaining live food involves some hassle, it is worth accustoming your skates to thawed and dry food.

The horse can eat dry fish food, ground to the desired state. Over time, a colony of living and mysids can form in the aquarium, which the pipits will happily hunt.

Also, you should not feed your fish exclusively with brine shrimp - they lack important substances and also have low nutritional value.

The food should always be fresh and fed daily. One individual eats 6-7 shrimp at one meal. They are fed three to four times a day.

There are two feeding methods:

1. From hand. Feed is given using hands or a rubber syringe. The method is slow, it will take about 15-20 minutes to slowly feed one portion, but it’s suitable for fun.

2. Feeders. Shells, stones with grooves, glass saucers and containers are suitable as feeders. Food is placed in these feeders, the fish swim up and eat at a time convenient for them.

The fish need to be fed first - using a syringe, lower the shrimp several times into the feeder and the skates will figure out where and when to swim for food.

Place several sticks near the feeder - the skates will cling to them with their tails while eating.

Compatibility with other inhabitants

Due to its leisurely behavior, the seahorse will not be able to get along with every aquarium inhabitant. They are slow, prone to stress, and have difficulty accepting change.

It is often even recommended to keep a separate aquarium just for skates. There is a lot of truth in this advice, but with proper planning, it is quite possible to create a well-functioning system from different types fish, corals, shellfish.

Skates coexist well with:

fish- blennies Synchiropus, scorpion fish, some cardinal fish and royal Gramm, small species bulls The main factor to determine a good neighbor is its low activity. Highly active fish will irritate the skates, suppress them, and take away food.

Important! First, you need to plant the skates in an empty aquarium, and only after a few days, in small batches of selected neighbors.

Dangerous neighbors:

fish- any large, active fish will irritate the skates and take away their food;
invertebrates- large crayfish, can attack skates and inflict wounds on them with their claws, sea anemones can sting with stinging cells;
corals- almost all corals are bad neighbors, many species have stinging cells, others require intense lighting. There are several types of corals that can be added, but if you are not completely sure that this is exactly the right coral, then it is better not to risk it and replace the living one with an artificial one.

Breeding

Breeding fish at home is an interesting activity, but it may not always work out. It is necessary to create ideal conditions for each individual species.

Skates form pairs for a long time; it is not uncommon for one pair to cling to each other all their lives. This is due to the peculiarities of their reproduction - males and females must achieve synchrony in their readiness to “become parents.”

In these fish, reproduction occurs differently than in other animals. The key difference is that the male carries the fry. It has a special pouch in its abdomen where the female lays her eggs. Therefore, it is not the male who seeks attention, but the female.

The beginning of the mating season of fish is determined by the lunar cycle and the beginning of low tide. It is then, with a strong current, that the fry are carried out to sea. Courtship begins with a mating dance that begins at dawn.

The female begins it, moving vertically in the water column, and the male begins to repeat after her. Gradually the dance becomes more complex, the animals begin to make clicking noises. Synchrony is important in this dance; this is the secret to successful pairing of skates.

The female releases an ovipositor and the male opens a pouch where the female lays eggs. In the pouch, the eggs are fertilized and the male carries them. The number of eggs depends on the type of animal and ranges from 60 to 1500.

Did you know? During mating games, skates not only dance, but also exchange« kisses» - by touch« lips».

Pregnancy lasts 50-60 days, after which the male pushes the fry out of the bag. This is where caring for the offspring ends, and the babies begin an independent life. Childbirth is quite difficult, it can last several days, and the risk of death of the male is high.

The survival rate of fry is quite small; out of a hundred born, 4-5 remain alive.

Diseases

Little is known about the diseases of these fish. They are affected by viral diseases, some protozoans and bacterial aeromonosis.

Infection can occur both from sick animals and contaminated decor that have entered the aquarium, and spontaneously, under the influence of stress.

Sick fish are removed from the main aquarium to a quarantine aquarium. There should be no living creatures or plants in it, only plastic algae and stones in which a sick animal can hide. The light in such an aquarium should be dim, weaker than in the main one.

Antibiotics ciprofloxacin and chloramphenicol are used to treat bacteria.

The following measures can be taken as prevention:

quarantine all newly arrived pipits for several days;
when transplanting skates, treat them with anti-stress medications;
regularly inspect each fish, and if you notice spots, bubbles, whitening of body parts, wounds, or other abnormalities, immediately send it to quarantine;
All decor must be cleaned and disinfected upon installation.

In the absence of disease and good prevention, the average horse lives 3-4 years.

How to distinguish a female and a male

Visually distinguishing males and females is not always easy.

Their main features are:

the female is completely covered with a bony shell, the male’s lower part is free;
the male has a clearly visible pouch in the lower part of his body in which he carries the eggs.

The seahorse is a very curious pet. It's nice to watch him and interesting to feed him.

Seahorses have always surprised people with their unusual appearance. These amazing fish are one of the most ancient inhabitants of the seas and oceans. The first representatives of this fish species appeared approximately forty million years ago. They got their name because of their resemblance to the chess piece knight.

The structure of seahorses

The fish are small in size. Most major representative This species has a body length of 30 centimeters and is considered a giant. Most seahorses have modest dimensions 10–12 centimeters.

There are also very miniature representatives of this species - dwarf fish. Their dimensions are only 13 millimeters. There are individuals measuring less than 3 millimeters.

As mentioned above, the name of these fish is determined by their appearance. In general, it’s not easy to understand that this is a fish and not an animal at first glance, because sea Horse bears little resemblance to other sea inhabitants.

If in the vast majority of fish the main parts of the body are located in a straight line located in a horizontal plane, then in seahorses the opposite is true. They have basic body parts located in a vertical plane, and the head is at right angles to the body.

To date, scientists have described 32 species of these fish. All pipits prefer to live in shallow waters warm seas. Since these fish are quite slow-moving, they value most coral reefs and coastal bottom, overgrown with algae, because there you can hide from enemies.

Seahorses swim very unusually. Their body stays vertical in the water while moving. This position is ensured by two swim bladders. The first is located along the entire body, and the second in the head area.

Moreover, the second bladder is much lighter than the abdominal one, which provides the fish vertical position in water when moving. In the water column, fish move due to the wave-like movements of their dorsal and pectoral fins. The vibration frequency of the fins is seventy beats per minute.

Seahorses also differ from most fish in that they do not have scales. Their body cover the bone plates, combined into belts. Such protection is quite heavy, but this weight does not in the least prevent the fish from floating freely in the water.

In addition, bone plates covered with spines serve as good protection. Their strength is so great that it is very difficult for a person to break even a dried skate shell with his hands.

Despite the fact that the seahorse's head is located at an angle of 90⁰ to the body, the fish can only move it in a vertical plane. In the horizontal plane, head movements are impossible. However, this does not create any review problems.

The fact is that this fish's eyes are not connected to each other. The horse can look with its eyes in different directions at the same time, so it is always aware of changes in the environment.

The seahorse's tail is very unusual. He twisted and very flexible. With its help, the fish clings to corals and algae when hiding.

At first glance, it seems that seahorses were not supposed to survive in harsh sea conditions: they slow and defenseless. In fact, the fish flourished until a certain time. The ability to mimicry helped them in this.

Evolutionary processes have led to the fact that seahorses can easily blend into the surrounding area. At the same time, they can change the color of their body either completely or partially. This is quite enough so that sea predators cannot notice the skates if they are hidden.

By the way, these sea inhabitants use the ability to change the color of their body in mating games. With the help of the “color music” of the body, males attract females.

Most people believe that these fish eat vegetation. This is a misconception. In fact, these sea fish, for all their seeming harmlessness and inactivity, are notorious predators. The basis of their diet is plankton. Artemia and shrimp- their favorite delicacy.

If you carefully examine the elongated snout of the skate, you will notice that it ends in a mouth that acts like a pipette. As soon as the fish notices the prey, it turns its mouth towards it and puffs out its cheeks. In fact, the fish sucks in its prey.

It is worth noting that these sea fish quite gluttonous. They can hunt for 10 hours straight. During this time they destroy up to 3,500 crustaceans. And this is with a stigma length of no more than 1 millimeter.

Reproduction of skates

Seahorses are monogamous. If a couple has formed, it will not break up until the death of one of the partners, which is not uncommon in the living world. But what's really surprising is this birth of offspring by males, not females.

This happens as follows. During love games, the female, using a special papilla, introduces eggs into the male's brood pouch. Fertilization also occurs there. Then, males bear offspring for 20 and sometimes 40 days.

After this period, the already grown fry are born. The offspring are very similar to the parents, but the body of the fry transparent and colorless.

It is noteworthy that males continue to care for their offspring for some time after birth, which, however, very quickly becomes independent.

Keeping seahorses in an aquarium

You should know that these fish cannot be kept in a regular aquarium. Skates need to be created special conditions for survival:

Do not forget that these fish are quite dirty, so the water in the aquarium must be well filtered.

As you remember, skates in nature like to hide from predators in algae and coral reefs. This means that you need to create similar conditions for them in the aquarium. To do this, you can use the following elements:

Artificial corals.
Seaweed.
Artificial grottoes.
Various stones.

An important requirement is that all elements should not have sharp edges that could damage the skates.

Feeding requirements

Since in nature these fish feed on crustaceans and shrimp, you will have to buy frozen Mysis shrimp for your pets. You need to feed the skates in the aquarium at least twice a day. Once a week you can pamper them with live food:

krill;
Artemia;
live shrimp.

Seahorses cannot compete for food with aggressive fish. Therefore, the choice of comrades for them is limited. Mainly different types of snails: astrea, turbo, nerite, trochus, etc. You can also add a blue hermit crab to them.

In conclusion, we will give one piece of advice: get all the information you have about these sea creatures, before starting your first pack.

Origin of the species and description

Seahorses belong to the genus of ray-finned fish from the order Acidaceae. Studies carried out on seahorses have shown that seahorses are a highly modified subspecies. Like needlefish, seahorses have an elongated body shape, a unique structure of the oral cavity, and a long, mobile tail. Not many remains of seahorses have been found - the earliest date back to the Pliocene, and the separation of pipefish and seahorses occurred in the Oligocene.

Video: Seahorse

The reasons are not precisely established, but the following stand out:

the formation of multiple shallow waters, where fish often swam as vertically as possible;
the spread of numerous algae and the occurrence of currents. Thus, the fish had a need to develop the grasping functions of the tail.

There are colorful varieties of seahorses that are not unanimously classified as this species by all scientists.

Some of the most colorful seahorses are:

pipefish. In appearance it resembles a tiny seahorse with a very elongated thin body;
the spiny seahorse has strong long spines all over its body;
sea dragons, especially leafy ones. They have a characteristic camouflage shape, as if completely covered with leaves and algae shoots;
the dwarf seahorse is the smallest representative of seahorses, measuring barely more than 2 cm;
The Black Sea pipit is a species that does not have spines.

Appearance and features

The seahorse got its name not by chance - its body shape resembles a chess knight. The elongated curved body is clearly divided into head, body and tail. The seahorse is completely covered with chitinous growths that have a ribbed shape. This gives it a resemblance to algae. The height of seahorses varies, depending on the species it can reach 4 cm or 25 cm. It also differs from other fish in that it swims vertically, holding its tail down.

This is explained by the fact that the abdominal bladder is located in the abdominal and head parts, and the head bladder is larger in size than the abdominal one. Therefore, the head seems to “float” up. The fins of the seahorse are small and serve as a kind of “rudder” - with their help it turns around in the water and maneuvers. Although seahorses swim very slowly, relying on camouflage. There is also a dorsal fin that allows the seahorse to maintain an upright position at all times.

Interesting fact: Seahorses can look different - sometimes their shape resembles algae, rocks and other objects among which they are camouflaged.

The seahorse has a sharp, elongated muzzle with pronounced large eyes. The seahorse does not have a mouth in the classical sense - it is a tube, similar in physiology to oral cavities anteaters. It draws water into itself through a tube to feed and breathe. The color can be very diverse, it also depends on the habitat of the seahorse. The most common species have a gray chitinous cover with rare small black dots. There are types bright colors: yellow, red, green. Often the bright color is accompanied by corresponding fins that resemble algae leaves.

The tail of the seahorse is interesting. It is curved and unbends only during intense swimming. With this tail, seahorses can cling to objects to hold on during strong currents. The abdominal cavity of seahorses is also noteworthy. The fact is that the reproductive organs are located there. In females this is the ovipositor, and in males it is the abdominal pouch, which looks like a hole in the middle of the abdomen.

Where does the seahorse live?

Seahorses prefer tropical and subtropical waters, and the water temperature must be stable.

They can most often be found along the following coasts:

Philippine Islands;

Most often they live in shallow water, but there are species that live in depth. Seahorses lead a sedentary lifestyle, hiding in algae and coral reefs. They grab hold of various objects with their tails and make occasional dashes from stem to stem. Due to their body shape and color, seahorses are excellent at camouflage.

Some seahorses can change color to suit their new environment. This is how they camouflage themselves from predators and get their food more efficiently. The seahorse makes long journeys in a peculiar way: it clings to some fish with its tail, and detaches itself from it when the fish gets into algae or reefs.

Now you know where are the seahorses found?. Let's see what this animal eats.

What does a seahorse eat?

Due to the peculiar physiology of the mouth, seahorses can only feed on very small food. It draws water into itself like a pipette, and along with the flow of water, plankton and other small food enter the seahorse’s mouth.

Large seahorses can suck in:

crustaceans;
shrimp;
small fish;
tadpoles;
eggs of other fish.

It is difficult to call a seahorse an active predator. Small species of seahorses feed continuously by sucking in water. Large seahorses resort to camouflage hunting: they cling to algae and coral reefs with their tails, waiting for suitable prey to be nearby.

Due to their slowness, seahorses do not know how to pursue prey. During the day, small species of seahorses eat up to 3 thousand crustaceans in plankton. They feed continuously at any time of the day - the fact is that the skate does not have a digestive system, so it has to be fed constantly.

Interesting fact: It is not uncommon for seahorses to eat larger fish; They are indiscriminate in their eating - the main thing is that the prey fits into the mouth.

In captivity, seahorses eat shrimp and special dry food. The peculiarity of feeding at home is that the food must be fresh and supplied regularly, otherwise the seahorses may get sick and die.

Features of character and lifestyle

Seahorses lead a sedentary lifestyle. Maximum speed which they can develop is up to 150 meters per hour, but they move extremely rarely, if necessary. Seahorses are non-aggressive fish that never attack other fish, even though they are. They live in small flocks of 10 to 50 individuals and have no hierarchy or structure. An individual from one flock can live peacefully in another flock.

Therefore, despite living in groups, seahorses are independent individuals. Interestingly, seahorses can form long-term monogamous pairs. Sometimes such a union lasts the entire life of seahorses. A pair of seahorses - a male and a male - is formed after the first successful breeding of offspring. In the future, the couple reproduces almost continuously, if there are no factors preventing this.

Seahorses are extremely susceptible to all kinds of stress. For example, if a seahorse loses its partner, it loses interest in reproduction and may completely refuse to eat, which is why it dies within 24 hours. Capturing and relocating to aquariums is also stressful for them. As a rule, caught seahorses must undergo adaptation from qualified specialists - captured individuals are not transplanted into aquariums with ordinary hobbyists.

Wild seahorses adapt extremely poorly to domestic conditions, most often become depressed and die. But seahorses born in aquariums calmly survive living at home.

Social structure and reproduction

Seahorses have no fixed time mating season. Males, reaching sexual maturity, begin to circle around the chosen female, demonstrating their readiness to mate. During this period, the soft area of the male's chest, not protected by chitin, darkens. The female does not react to these dances, freezes in place and watches the male or several males at once.

Some large species of seahorses are able to inflate a pouch on their chest. This ritual is repeated for several days until the female chooses a male. Before mating, the chosen male can “dance” all day until he is exhausted. The female signals the male that she is ready to mate when she rises closer to the surface of the water. The male follows her, opening his bag. The female's ovipositor expands, she inserts it into the opening of the pouch and lays eggs directly into the male's pouch. He simultaneously impregnates her.

The amount of fertilized eggs depends largely on the size of the male - a larger male can fit more eggs into his pouch. Small tropical species of seahorses produce up to 60 eggs, large species more than five hundred. Sometimes seahorses form stable pairs that do not break up throughout the life of the two individuals. Then mating occurs without rituals - the female simply lays eggs in the male’s pouch.

After four weeks, the male begins to release fry from the bag - this process is similar to “shooting”: the bag expands and many fry quickly fly out to freedom. To do this, the male swims out to an open area where the current is strongest - this way the fry will spread over a wide area. Further fate Parents are not interested in little seahorses.

Natural enemies of the seahorse

The seahorse is a master of camouflage and secret living. Thanks to this, the seahorse has very few enemies who would purposefully hunt this fish.

Sometimes seahorses become food for the following creatures:

large shrimp feast on small seahorses, hatchlings and caviar;
crabs are the enemies of seahorses both underwater and on land. Sometimes seahorses cannot hold on to the seaweed during a storm, which is why they are washed ashore, where they become prey for crabs;
lives in corals and anemones, where seahorses are often found;
may simply eat everything in its path, and seahorses accidentally end up in its diet.

Interesting fact: Undigested seahorses have been found in their stomachs.

Seahorses are not capable of self-defense and do not know how to escape. Even the fastest subspecies will not have enough speed to escape pursuit. But seahorses are not hunted purposefully, since most of them are covered with sharp chitinous spines and growths.

Population and species status

Most seahorse species are endangered. Data on the number of species is controversial: some scientists identify 32 species, others more than 50. However, 30 species of seahorses are close to extinction.

The reasons for the disappearance of seahorses are different. This includes:

mass capture of seahorses as souvenirs;
catching seahorses as delicacies;
environmental pollution;
changing of the climate.

Seahorses are extremely susceptible to stress - the slightest change in the ecology of their habitat leads to the death of seahorses. Pollution of the world's oceans is decimating the population of not only seahorses, but also many other fish.

Interesting fact: Sometimes a seahorse may choose a female that is not yet ready to mate. Then he still carries out all the rituals, but in the end mating does not occur, and then he looks for a new partner.

Seahorse conservation

Most species of seahorses are listed in. Seahorses received the status of protected species slowly, since it is extremely difficult to record the numbers of these fish. Long-snouted seahorses were the first to be included in the Red Book in 1994. The protection of seahorses is complicated by the fact that seahorses die from severe stress. It is impossible to move them to new territories, and it is difficult to breed them in aquariums and home water parks.

The main measures taken to protect skates are as follows:

a ban on catching seahorses – it is considered poaching;
the creation of protected areas where large schools of seahorses are located;
stimulation of fertility through artificial feeding of seahorses in the wild.

The measures are weakly effective, since the capture of seahorses is still allowed in countries and is very active. So far, the population is saved by the fertility of these fish - out of a hundred eggs, only one individual survives to adulthood, but this is a record number among most tropical fish.

Sea Horse- and an animal. They come in a wide variety of shapes, colors and sizes, being one of the most colorful fish species. We can only hope that measures to protect seahorses will bear fruit, and these fish will continue to exist safely in the vastness of the world’s oceans.

Description of the breed

Refers to rare species fish that have bone plates instead of scales. Some varieties have thorns. The fish's head is located at a right angle. Marine aquarium fish moves in a vertical position, due to which its speed is significantly reduced.

IN wildlife Pipits often live in coral reefs, where they hide among the fauna. They cling to plants with their tail and remain motionless. Fish feed using their nose.

Their eyes have a unique feature - an individual can look in different directions at the same time. The color of the fish can change depending on environmental conditions.

The breed includes more than 30 species of skates. Each type has its own content requirements. The following species have the calmest disposition and unpretentiousness: Hippocampus erectus, Reidi and Barbouri. These species reach 20 cm in length.

Seahorse - fish small sizes, which is a representative of the Needle family from the Stickleback order. Research has shown that the seahorse is a highly modified pipefish. Today the seahorse is a rather rare creature. In this article you will find a description and photo of a seahorse and learn a lot of new and interesting things about this extraordinary creature.

The seahorse looks very unusual and its body shape resembles a chess piece of a horse. The seahorse fish has many long bony spines and various leathery projections on its body.

Thanks to this body structure, the seahorse appears unnoticed among the algae and remains inaccessible to predators. The seahorse looks amazing, it has small fins, its eyes rotate independently of each other, and its tail is curled into a spiral.

The seahorse looks diverse, because it can change the color of its scales.

The seahorse looks small, its size depends on the species and varies from 4 to 25 cm. In the water, the seahorse swims vertically, unlike other fish. This is due to the fact that the seahorse’s swim bladder consists of an abdominal and a head part. The head bladder is larger than the abdominal one, which allows the seahorse to maintain an upright position when swimming.

Off the coast of Australia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, pipits are being caught en masse. The exotic appearance and bizarre body shape are the reason why people began to make gift souvenirs from them.

For beauty, the tail is artificially arched and the body is given the shape of the letter “S”, but in nature skates do not look like that.

Another reason that contributes to the decline in the seahorse population is that they are a delicacy. Gourmets highly value the taste of these fish, especially the eyes and liver of seahorses. In a restaurant, the cost of one serving of such a dish costs $800.

In total, there are about 50 species of seahorses, 30 of which are already listed in the Red Book.

Luckily, seahorses are very fertile and can produce over a thousand young at a time, keeping the seahorses from going extinct. Seahorses are bred in captivity, but this fish is very demanding to keep.

One of the most extravagant seahorses is the rag-picker seahorse, which you can see in the photo below.

The seahorse lives in tropical and subtropical seas. The seahorse fish lives mainly at shallow depths or near the shore and leads a sedentary lifestyle.

The seahorse lives in dense thickets of algae and other marine vegetation.

It attaches itself to plant stems or corals with its flexible tail, remaining almost invisible due to its body covered with various projections and spines.

The seahorse fish changes body color to completely blend in with environment. In this way, the seahorse successfully camouflages itself not only from predators, but also while foraging for food. The seahorse is very bony, so few people want to eat it.