Seahorse
Have you seen the movie "Finding Nemo"? In the film, Nemo meets Sheldon and his friends in a school under the sea. Sheldon is a sea horse, a distinct and wonderful fish. Seahorses are very small marine fishes from a family named Hippocampus. Hippocampus is a Greek word derived from two different words --- "hippo" means horse and "kampos" means "sea monster". As the head of this fish looks like a horse hence named Seahorse.
There are almost 25-30 different types of seahorses spread from tropical and temperate coastal waters. Their size varies from 1.5 to 35.5cm. They have external protection in the form of a skeleton on their body which is called as armor. It protects them against the predators. They have a curled prehensile tail. Prehensile is the ability to grab or hold. Their tail helps them to grab or hold an object. Body of a seahorse is stretched over boney plates which are arranged in the form of rings across the body.
The position of a seahorse while swimming is another distinct characteristic which makes them different from other fishes. They swim upright. They have dorsal black fins which are used to propel in the water. A fin flaps up to 35 times per second. The fins are located on the either side of the head. Normally neck is a body part which you can see in land animals. But very interestingly, a seahorse has a flexible and very well-defined neck.
The abdomen of male seahorse is called as pouch. It is very similar to the kangaroo's pouch that carries the baby. The female seahorse deposits thousands of eggs in the male's pouch which is then carried by the male for 9 to 45 days until fully developed.
Some more facts:
* Seahorse is a very poor swimmer. H. Zosterae which is a dwarf seahorse is world's slowest moving fish. Its top speed is 5 feet per hour.
* Most often, seahorses swim in pairs with their tails linked together.
* To move up and down, seahorses adjust the air volume in their bladder.
* Planktons and tiny fish is their food. They almost eat constantly.
* Their lifespan is about 3 to 4 years.
* As they are very bad swimmers, they anchor themselves to coral or any such thing.
* Due to overfishing and destruction of their habitat, seahorses are endangered.
* In Chinese medicine their consumption is widespread.
