What do seahorses eat on the Black Sea coast. A message about a seahorse. Description of the underwater "horse"

Many have seen these sea creatures on TV or in aquariums, but not everyone realizes how surprising interesting facts about the seahorse can be. These beautiful fish representatives amaze with their unique properties. However, they are very difficult to observe in the wild. Moreover, the number of seahorses has recently declined sharply due to the destruction of their habitats.

1. Seahorses are the only fish with necks. Scientists have proven that seahorses are relatives of needle fish. True, during evolution their body has changed a lot. Unlike other fish, skates are located vertically in the water due to the fact that the swim bladder is distributed throughout the body. The S-shaped body shape allows skates to successfully hunt from cover. They freeze among the seaweed or reefs, and when a tiny larva swims by, they grab it by turning their heads.
2. Skates can ride on fish. Thanks to their curved tail, seahorses can travel long distances. They grab onto the fins of the perch and hold on until the fish swims into the algae thickets. And the skates grab their mate with their tail and swim in an embrace.
3. Skates' eyes move independently of each other. The seahorse's organ of vision is similar to the eyes of a chameleon. One eye of these fish can look forward, and the other can see what is happening behind.
4. Master of Disguise Skates. The ability to change color depending on location allows seahorses to avoid numerous enemies. Just like chameleons, pipits match the color of their scales to the color of coral or algae, making them almost invisible.
5. Seahorses have an excellent appetite. They don't have teeth, they don't even have a stomach. In order not to die, these fish have to eat constantly. With their proboscis, pipits suck in plankton, small larvae and crustaceans. Moreover, this happens so quickly that it is difficult to track.
6. Almost no one eats seahorses. These small fish can become prey for other predators only by accident. They consist almost entirely of bones, spines and scales, so there are few hunters for them, except perhaps stingrays and large crabs.
7. Seahorses are susceptible to stress. Stress often poses a mortal danger to seahorses. These fish thrive in clean, calm water. Strong sea motion leads to depletion of their strength. And with a sudden change of location, they may even die. Therefore, it is difficult to breed skates in aquariums; they do not take root well in an artificial environment.
8. The female chooses the male herself. We can say that seahorses have a matriarchy. After all, it is the females who decide which male to choose as a spouse.
9. Seahorses perform mating dances. For several days, the female performs a kind of dance with her supposed chosen one, rising to the surface of the water and sinking to the bottom, intertwining her tails. If the male lags behind the bride, she will most likely leave him and look for another, more profitable match.
10. Male seahorses are "pregnant". If the female has chosen a suitable male, then she remains faithful to him until the end of her life. She entrusts the male with bearing the eggs and caring for the offspring. The female transfers the eggs to a special pouch on the male’s body. There, future skates grow within a month and a half. And then they are born as full-fledged fish. One male can simultaneously produce from 5 to 1.5 thousand fry. However, male seahorses still cannot be called pregnant. After all, fry are not born in their body, but are only kept until full maturity. This is a function of protecting future offspring.

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11. Skates are fragile, but tenacious. One in a hundred seahorse fry born survives to become full-fledged adults. This is a very high indicator for fish. It is thanks to this indicator that seahorses have not become extinct to this day.

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12. The horse is on the coat of arms of the city of Zaozersk. For several years in a row, a seahorse was depicted on the coat of arms of the Russian city of Zaozersk (Murmansk region). The image was supposed to symbolize the naval power of the Northern Fleet. But, since seahorses are not found in the waters of the Barents Sea, the image of the seahorse was replaced by the image of a dolphin. It should be noted that seahorses are inhabitants of tropical and subtropical salt water bodies. And not all of Russia’s largest seas are included in this list.

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13. 30 species of skates are listed in the Red Book. But science knows only 32 species of these fish. There are several reasons for the extinction of seahorses. But almost all of them are related to human activity. In Thailand, Australia, and Malaysia, skates are caught to be dried and used as souvenirs. In oriental medicine they are used to prepare medicines for asthma and skin diseases. In addition, the habitats of seahorses are polluted or completely destroyed by humans. And plankton useful for skates is often eaten by jellyfish, which are favorably affected by climate change.
14. Seahorses are a delicacy. A dish using the liver and eyes of seahorses is served in the most expensive restaurants in the world. These parts of skates are considered very tasty and healthy. The cost of the delicacy is on average $800 per serving. And in China, fried skates are served on sticks.

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15. Skates have lived on Earth for 40 million years.. Although fossilized seahorses are rare, scientists have proven that these fish have existed for tens of millions of years. They appeared at a time when, as a result of tectonic shifts in the earth's crust, shallows formed in the oceans and algae began to spread.

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Of the inhabitants of the underwater world, the most unusual, but known to everyone, are seahorses. They belong to the needle family of the order Acicularis. The fact is that they are fellow fish called pipefish, whose bodies are retracted, narrow and long. The largest seahorses are called dragons, and in total there are about 50 species of seahorses.

After analyzing the structure of the seahorse, scientists found that it originated from the pipefish fish 13 million years ago. In appearance, these species are very similar, only the needle is straightened and the ridge is curved.

Description of the underwater "horse"

At first glance, it seems that the pipit is not a fish at all. If you look at the photo of a seahorse, it looks like a knight in chess pieces. The silhouette of this unusual fish is curved, the abdomen stands out forward, and the back is rounded. The front part of the skate's body is narrow and curved so that it resembles the neck and head of a horse. The front part of the head is elongated, the fish has bulging eyes. The long tail is wrapped in a spiral. The tail is quite flexible, which allows the seahorse to wrap itself around seaweed.

Its body is covered with a wide variety of bumps, thickenings and outgrowths. On their small body there are bone scales that act as armor; they are bright and iridescent. Such a skate shell cannot be penetrated; it is very strong and protects against sea predators.

Their colors vary in variety, but are still monochromatic. The color of the skates' covering depends on their habitat; they acquire the most similar color to best imitate the surface on which they live. So, for example, if a seahorse is among the corals, then most likely it is red or bright yellow or purple. Pipits that live in seaweed environments are brown, yellow, or green in color. They also tend to change shade when their environment changes.

Seahorses are small in size, the smallest start from 2 cm, and the largest reach 20 cm.

Habitat

Seahorses live underwater, mainly in the tropics and subtropics. This means that they live all over the planet.

Usually the fish live among seaweed or corals in shallow waters. Skates are inactive and inactive. Most of the time they are in a position with their tail caught on a coral branch or seaweed. Larger fish - sea dragons - cannot attach to aquatic vegetation in this way.

Lifestyle

Skates swim a little, not far from their usual place and slowly, while keeping their body vertical - this is one of the main differences from other fish. In an emergency, if they are spooked, they can swim in a horizontal position. When in danger, the seahorse quickly clings to coral or algae with its tail and freezes. He hangs upside down motionless. The skate can remain in this position for a very long time.

They also differ from other inhabitants of the seabed by their meek and calm character. These fish are not aggressive towards others. But they are still classified as predatory fish, since they feed on a variety of small organisms - plankton. They track the smallest mollusks, crustaceans, larvae of other fish and other invertebrates with their rotating eyes. When the prey comes close to the seahorse, it sucks it into its mouth, while strongly inflating its cheeks. This little fish is insatiable and can feed for about 10 hours a day.

Reproduction of seahorses

It should also be noted that these fish are monogamous. They say about seahorses that these fish live in married pairs all their lives. But it still happens when they change their partners. Another key feature is that male seahorses carry the eggs instead of females. During the mating season, skates change: the female grows an ovipositor in the form of a tube, and the male develops a pouch with thickened folds in the tail area. Before fertilization, the partners undergo a rather lengthy mating dance. This is touching courtship on the part of the male. It was also revealed that the male seahorse seems to adapt to the female, changing the color of his coat to match her.

The female places eggs in the male's pouch. So the male carries the eggs for about two weeks. There is a small hole in the bag through which the fry are born. As for sea dragons, they do not have a pouch. They hatch eggs on the very stem of the tail. The number of eggs varies among different species of skates. So, some may have 5 fry, while others may have 1500 eggs.

The birth itself is painful for the male. It happens that the outcome of the birth of fry is fatal for the skate.

Experiment

One day scientists conducted an experiment. A pair of males and a pair of females were placed in one aquarium to breed seahorses. After all the traditional courtship, the female laid her eggs to one of the males for further fertilization. The fertilized male was removed to a nearby aquarium. The remaining male tried to court this female, but all his efforts were in vain. She did not pay attention to him and did not try to lay eggs in his pouch. When they finally returned the male back to the aquarium with the female, she again chose him to fertilize her offspring. So he was removed again and again after the eggs were placed on him. Despite the fact that the second male continued to court her, the female seahorse still chose her previous male to reproduce. The experiment with fish was done 6 times - everything remained unchanged.

Fry

Of a thousand newborn fry, only 5% survive and continue labor.

The newly hatched fry are already completely independent and move away from their parents, choosing a new habitat for themselves.

Skates in the Red Book

Nowadays, most species of seahorses are rare, and some are completely disappearing from the seabed. After all, 30 species are listed in the Red Book. And all because the seahorse reproduces in small quantities. A ban has been introduced on the catch of skates. But despite this, people catch these fish in huge quantities for cooking. Gourmets consider the fillets of these fish to be truly a delicacy and sell them at incredible prices. Skates are also used in oriental medicine; various drugs are made from them for skin diseases and asthma. Because of their unusual, beautiful appearance, skates are dried and sold in large quantities as souvenirs. People specially bend the tail of the skate in the opposite direction so that its shape becomes shaped like the letter S. Such fish do not exist in nature.

Water pollution also plays a large role in the extinction of most species of seahorses. After all, every year more and more waste and chemicals processed by industries are thrown into the oceans. Environmental accidents and other pollution affect the extinction of corals and algae, which are so necessary for the life of seahorses.

Breeding seahorses at home

Despite the desire of many aquarium owners to have such an interesting fish at home, the pipit is very demanding for breeding at home. It is susceptible to various diseases and is too picky about feed.

Rare species of skates have a very difficult time staying in an aquarium. They may become stressed or get sick. Therefore, when breeding fish at home, it is necessary to create conditions close to their natural habitat. If you carefully approach the breeding of a seahorse, it will delight its owner for 3-4 years.

Aquarium

It is necessary to monitor the temperature of the water in the aquarium. The optimal water temperature for them is approximately 23-25 ​​degrees Celsius. For hot days, you need to take care of installing an aquarium split system or turn on a fan nearby. Otherwise, hot air has a detrimental effect on these fish, and they will simply suffocate.

In order for a seahorse to feel comfortable at home in an aquarium, it is necessary to monitor the quality of the water in it. The water in the aquarium should not contain ammonia or phosphates. You need to put corals and algae on the bottom. Various grottoes, jugs, castles and other products made from artificial materials are also welcome.

Fish nutrition

Seahorses eat often and a lot, so they need to be provided with 4-5 meals a day. Frozen meat of crustaceans, shrimp and other invertebrate mollusks is suitable for food. They also readily eat moths and daphnia.

Content Features

The seahorse is very demanding to care for, so owners of such royal fish need to be patient and persevering. Here are some features you need to be aware of:

Neighbors in the aquarium

Next door you can place calm fish or invertebrates in the aquarium. The fish should be small, slow and careful. Ideal neighbors for seahorses would be blennies and gobies. They get along well with a snail, which does not sting corals and cleans the aquarium perfectly. You can also consider living stones as inhabitants of the “house” of needle-shaped fish. These are small pieces of limestone that have been in warm tropical waters for some time and are inhabited by various living organisms. All new neighbors must be healthy to avoid infecting the seahorses.

The seahorse is a small sea fish belonging to the needle family. Represented by 54 species. The size of the smallest individuals is about 2 centimeters, and the body length of the largest can reach 30 centimeters. Scientists who studied the origin of this marine inhabitant conducted various anatomical, genetic, molecular studies and, based on the results obtained, came to the conclusion that it is a very modified needle fish.

The seahorse is a truly unique creation of nature. In the natural environment it lives for 4-5 years. Its appearance and habits are absolutely atypical for fish. The shape of the body of this creature is similar to that of a chess knight. It has spines and leathery outgrowths. It is protected not by scales, but by a hard bone shell, which only a land crab can crack. There are fins on the back and chest. The camouflage coloring of the body also helps protect against enemies.

The eyes are constructed on the same principle as those of a chameleon. The swim bladder consists of 2 parts, separated by a septum. The head part is larger than the ventral part. The bubble is located along the body and allows the seahorse to swim in an upright position.

Due to the primitive structure of the digestive system (that is, the absence of teeth and stomach), seahorses are forced to eat almost all the time. Their food is small shrimp and crustaceans, which are drawn in with water by a tubular stigma that functions like a pipette.

The habitat of seahorses is tropical and subtropical seas. They give preference to calm, clear water, since rocking on the waves is fraught with exhaustion for them. They move slowly. They do not take root well in a new place. They are subject to stress and can even die from the loss of a partner, because they belong to monogamous creatures and choose their life partner once and for all.

Interestingly, it is not the male who makes the choice, but the female. She invites suitable “gentlemen” with a kind of dance and gives her sympathies to the fastest and most resilient. During the mating process, the female lays eggs in a special pocket located on the tummy of the male, who bears the offspring. After the babies are born, parents do not care about them at all, so their survival rate is low.

Due to mass catching and other reasons, today the number of seahorses has decreased, and some species are even at risk of complete extinction, which is why they are listed in the Red Book.

Option 2

The seahorse is a representative of the class of ray-finned fish, belonging to the needle family. The genus includes 54 species, the sizes of seahorses vary from 2 to 30 cm.

The fish's habitat is coastal areas of subtropical and tropical seas and oceans. Seahorses lead a sedentary lifestyle, attaching their tails to the stems of algae; they practically do not move in the water column. Usually their color depends on the color of the plants; they completely blend into the background, which makes the fish invisible to both prey and predators. The main food of seahorses is small plankton. The elongated snout sucks in small sea animals along with the water. Due to the structure of the exoskeleton - the shell that covers the entire body of the seahorse with the exception of the tail section, the fish has practically no natural enemies.

The fish owes its unusual body shape to its anatomical structure. The swim bladder is located along the entire body, its head and abdominal parts are separated by a septum. The seahorse swims in an upright position because the head swim bladder is larger than the abdominal swim bladder.

Genetic and molecular studies have revealed that the seahorse is a highly modified pipefish. Their species diverged in the late Oligocene. To date, virtually no fossils of seahorses have been discovered, so it is impossible to trace how they acquired their familiar appearance during the course of evolution.

The male seahorse bears and gives birth to children. The female lays unfertilized eggs in a special cavity - a pocket, present in the abdominal region of the male. There the eggs are fertilized, and after 1-2 months, baby fish emerge from them. They look like adults.

Recently, the seahorse population has begun to decline, which is due to uncontrolled human activity. In coastal areas, there is a massive catch of this amazing fish. Due to their exotic, unusual shape, seahorses are used as souvenirs and gifts. There are already 30 species in the Red Book.

What saves seahorses is their fertility; at one time the fish can give birth to more than 1000 babies. However, not all of them are destined to become adults.

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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. The largest representative of 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 is not easy to understand that this is a fish and not an animal at first glance, because the seahorse bears little resemblance to other inhabitants of the sea.

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 in 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 are quite voracious. 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 special conditions to survive:

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.

One piece of final advice: get all the information you can about these sea creatures before you start your first school.

Seahorses are very peculiar fish with an extraordinary appearance and interesting biology. They belong to the spiny family of the order Stickleback. This affiliation is not accidental, because seahorses, one might say, are brothers of other interesting fish - pipefish. There are 50 known species of seahorses, several of the largest species are called sea dragons.

Grass sea dragon, or ragpiper (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus).

The appearance of seahorses is so unusual that at first glance it is difficult to recognize them as fish. The body of the skates is bizarrely curved, the back sticks out with a hump, the abdomen also protrudes forward, the front part of the body is thin and curved like the neck of a horse (hence the name). The head is small, its front part is elongated like a tube, the eyes are bulging. The tail of seahorses is long and very flexible; in a calm state, the fish curls it into a ring or wraps its tail around the stems of aquatic plants. The body of skates is covered with various thickenings, knobs, outgrowths and similar decorations. The coloring of these fish is often monochromatic, but different species are colored very differently. In any case, the coloring of each species very accurately imitates the color and texture of the surface on which this horse lives. Pipits living among aquatic plants are often brown, yellowish, and green; Pipits living among corals can be red, bright yellow, or purple.

Seahorses are fluent in the art of camouflage.

In addition, each fish can change its hue to some extent. Seahorses are small fish, their size varies from 2 to 20 cm.

The smallest species, the dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus bargibanti), is only 2 cm long. It is completely indistinguishable from coral branches.

These fish live in the seas of tropical and subtropical zones. Their range encircles the entire globe. Seahorses live in shallow waters among seagrass beds or among corals. These are sedentary and generally very sedentary fish. Typically, seahorses wrap their tail around a branch of coral or a tuft of sea grass and spend most of their time in this position. But large sea dragons do not know how to attach to vegetation. For short distances they swim holding their body vertically; if they have to leave the “home”, they can swim in an almost horizontal position. They swim slowly. In general, the character of these fish is surprisingly calm and meek; seahorses do not show aggression towards their fellow fish and other fish.

The intricately decorated leafy sea dragon (Phycodurus eques) is indistinguishable from its surroundings.

They feed on plankton. They track the smallest crustaceans by rolling their eyes funny. As soon as the prey approaches the miniature hunter, the seahorse inflates its cheeks, creating negative pressure in the mouth and sucks up the crustacean like a vacuum cleaner. Despite their small size, skates are big eaters and can indulge in gluttony for up to 10 hours a day.

Seahorses are monogamous fish; they live in married pairs, but can periodically change partners. It is characteristic that these fish carry eggs, with males and females changing roles. During the mating season, females grow a tube-shaped ovipositor, and in the male, thickened folds in the tail area form a pouch. Before spawning, partners perform a long mating dance.

Spawning pair of seahorses.

The female lays eggs in the male's pouch and he carries them for about 2 weeks. Newborn fry emerge from the pouch through a narrow opening. Sea dragons do not have a pouch and hatch eggs on the stem of their tail. The fertility of different species ranges from 5 to 1500 fry. Newborn fish are completely independent and move away from the parent pair.

Eggs on the tail of a sea dragon.

Currently, many species of seahorses have become very rare, and some are even on the verge of extinction. This is facilitated by the massive catch of these fish and their low fertility. Seahorses are caught for meat, which is used in the cooking of eastern countries and in oriental medicine. In addition, souvenirs made from dried seahorses are very popular. It is not very easy to keep seahorses in aquariums; they are demanding of food and are susceptible to disease, but it is very interesting to watch them.

The leafy sea dragon broods the eggs.

how a male seahorse gives birth to fry.