How long does a seahorse live? Seahorse - message report. Skates coexist well with

The very appearance of these fish evokes pleasant associations with childhood, toys and fairy tales.

The horse swims in an upright position and tilts its head so gracefully that, looking at it, it is impossible not to compare it with some small magical horse.

It is covered not with scales, but with bone plates. However, in his shell he is so light and fast that he literally floats in the water, and his body shimmers with all colors - from orange to dove-blue, from lemon yellow to fiery red. In terms of brightness of color, it is worthy to compare this fish with tropical birds.

Seahorses inhabit the coastal waters of tropical and subtropical seas. But they are also found in the North Sea, for example, near south coast England. They choose quieter places; They don't like the turbulent current.

Among them there are dwarfs the size of a little finger, and there are giants about thirty centimeters. The smallest species - Hippocampus zosterae (dwarf seahorse) - is found in Gulf of Mexico. Its length does not exceed four centimeters, and the body is very hardy.

In Black and Mediterranean seas You can find the long-faced, spotted Hippocampus guttulatus, whose length reaches 12-18 centimeters. The most famous are representatives of the species Hippocampus kuda, which lives off the coast of Indonesia. Seahorses of this species (their length is 14 centimeters) are brightly and variegatedly colored, some with specks, others with stripes. The largest seahorses are found near Australia.

Whether they are dwarfs or giants, seahorses look alike like brothers: a trusting look, capricious lips and an elongated “horse” muzzle. Their tail is curved towards the belly, and their head is decorated with horns. It is impossible to confuse these graceful and colorful fish, which look like jewelry or toys, with any inhabitant of the water element.

How does pregnancy proceed in males?

Even now, zoologists find it difficult to say how many species there are seahorses. Possibly 30-32 species, although this figure is subject to change. The fact is that seahorses are difficult to classify. Their appearance is too changeable. And they know how to hide in such a way that a needle thrown into a haystack would be jealous.

When Amanda Vincent of Montreal's McGill University began studying seahorses in the late 1980s, she was frustrated: "At first I couldn't even notice the little ones." Masters of mimicry, in a moment of danger they change their color, repeating the color of surrounding objects. Therefore, they are easily mistaken for algae. Many seahorses, like gutta-percha dolls, can even change their body shape. They develop small growths and nodules. Some seahorses can be difficult to distinguish from corals.

This plasticity, this “color music” of the body helps them not only fool their enemies, but also seduce their partners. German zoologist Ruediger Verhasselt shares his observations: “I had a pink-red male in my aquarium. I placed a bright yellow female with red speckles next to him. The male began to look after the new fish and after a few days it turned the same color as it - even red specks appeared.”

To watch enthusiastic pantomimes and colorful confessions, you need to go underwater early in the morning. Only in the pre-dawn twilight (however, sometimes in the sunset hours) seahorses wander in pairs through the underwater thickets of algae, this sea jungle. In their confessions, they follow a funny etiquette: they nod their heads, greeting their friend, while clinging to neighboring plants with their tails. Sometimes they freeze when they come together in a “kiss.” Or they whirl around in a stormy love dance, and the males constantly inflate their bellies.

The date is over - and the fish swim away to the sides. Adju! Until next time! Seahorses usually live in monogamous pairs, loving each other to the death, which they often have in the form of nets. After the death of a partner, his half misses him, but after a few days or weeks he finds a partner again. Seahorses housed in an aquarium are particularly affected by the loss of a partner. And it happens that they die one after another, unable to bear the grief.

What is the secret of such affection? Kindred spirits? Here's how biologists explain it: by regularly walking and caressing each other, seahorses synchronize their The biological clock. This helps them choose the most appropriate moment for procreation. Then their meeting drags on for several hours, or even days. They glow with excitement and spin in a dance in which, as we remember, the males inflate their bellies. It turns out that the male has a wide fold on his stomach where the female lays her eggs.

Surprisingly, in seahorses the offspring is carried by the male, having previously fertilized the eggs in the abdominal pouch.

But such behavior is not as exotic as it might seem. There are also other species of fish, for example, cichlids, in which the eggs are hatched by males. But only in seahorses do we deal with a process similar to pregnancy. Fabric on inside The brood pouch in the male thickens, as in the uterus of mammals. This tissue becomes a kind of placenta; it connects the father's body with the embryos and nourishes them. This process is controlled by the hormone prolactin, which stimulates lactation in humans - the formation of mother's milk.

With the onset of pregnancy, walks in underwater forests stop. The male stays in an area of ​​about one square meter. In order not to compete with him in obtaining food, the female delicately swims to the side.

After a month and a half, “birth” occurs. The seahorse presses against the seaweed stalk and inflates its belly again. Sometimes a whole day passes before the first fry slips out of the bag and into the wild. Then the young will begin to emerge in pairs, faster and faster, and soon the bag will expand so much that dozens of fry will swim out of it at the same time. Number of newborns different types miscellaneous: some seahorses hatch up to 1600 babies, while others give birth to only two fry.

Sometimes the “birth” is so difficult that the males die from exhaustion. In addition, if for some reason the embryos die, then the male who carried them will also die.

Evolution cannot explain the origin of reproductive functions seahorse. The whole process of childbearing is too “unorthodox”. Indeed, the structure of the seahorse appears to be a mystery if you try to explain it as a result of evolution. As one leading expert said several years ago: “In terms of evolution, the seahorse is in the same category as the platypus. Because he is a mystery that confuses and destroys all theories trying to explain the origin of this fish! Recognize the Divine Creator, and everything will be explained.”

What do seahorses do if they're not flirting or expecting offspring? One thing is certain: they do not shine with success in swimming, which is not surprising given their constitution. They have; only three small fins: the dorsal one helps to swim forward, and two gill fins maintain vertical balance and serve as a rudder. In a moment of danger, seahorses can briefly speed up their movement, flapping their fins up to 35 times per second (some scientists even call the number “70”). They are much better at vertical maneuvers. By changing the volume of the swim bladder, these fish move up and down in a spiral.

However, most of the time the seahorse hangs motionless in the water, its tail hooked on algae, coral, or even the neck of a relative. It looks like he's ready to hang around all day. However, despite his apparent laziness, he manages to catch a lot of prey - tiny crustaceans and fry. Only recently was it possible to observe how this happens.

The seahorse does not rush after prey, but waits until it swims to it. Then he draws in water, swallowing the careless small fry. Everything happens so quickly that the naked eye cannot notice it. However, scuba diving enthusiasts say that when approaching a seahorse, you sometimes hear the sound of smacking. The appetite of this fish is amazing: as soon as it is born, the seahorse manages to swallow about four thousand miniature shrimp in the first ten hours of life.

In total, he is destined to live, if he’s lucky, four to five years. Enough time to leave behind millions of descendants. It seems that with such numbers, seahorses are assured of prosperity. However, it is not. Out of a thousand fry, on average, only two survive. All the rest themselves fall into someone's mouth. However, in this whirlwind of births and deaths, seahorses have been staying afloat for forty million years. Only human intervention can destroy this species.

According to the World Fund wildlife, the number of seahorses is rapidly declining. Thirty species of these fish are included in the Red Book, that is, almost all species known to science. Ecology is primarily to blame for this. The world's oceans are turning into a global dump. Its inhabitants are degenerating and dying out.

Half a century ago, the Chesapeake Bay was a narrow, long bay off the coast American states Maryland and Virginia (its length reaches 270 kilometers) were considered a real paradise for seahorses. Now you can hardly find them there. Alison Scarratt, director of the National Aquarium in Baltimore, estimates that ninety percent of the bay's algae have died in the past half century, due to water pollution. But there were algae natural environment seahorse habitat.

Another reason for the decline is the massive catching of seahorses off the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and the Philippines. According to Amanda Vincent, at least 26 million of these fish are caught every year. Small part they then end up in aquariums, and most die. For example, these cute fish are dried and used to make souvenirs - brooches, key rings, belt buckles. By the way, for the sake of beauty, their tail is bent back, giving the body the shape of the letter S.

However, most of the seahorses caught - about twenty million, according to the World Wildlife Fund - end up with pharmacists in China, Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia and Singapore. The largest transshipment point for the sale of this “medical raw material” is Hong Kong. From here it is sold to more than thirty countries, including India and Australia. Here, a kilogram of seahorses costs about $1,300.

From these dried fish, crushed and mixed with other substances, for example with tree bark, drugs are prepared that are as popular in Japan, Korea, and China as here - aspirin or analgin. They help with asthma, cough, headaches and especially with impotence. IN Lately this Far Eastern “Viagra” has become popular in Europe.

However, even ancient authors knew that medicines could be prepared from seahorses. Thus, Pliny the Elder (24-79) wrote that in case of hair loss, one should use an ointment prepared from a mixture of dried seahorses, marjoram oil, resin and lard. In 1754, the English Gentlemen's Magazine advised nursing mothers to take seahorse extract "for the better flow of milk." Of course, old recipes can make you smile, but it is carried out now World organization health research " healing properties seahorse."

Meanwhile, Amanda Vincent and a number of biologists advocate a complete ban on the uncontrolled harvesting and trade of seahorses, trying to put an end to predatory fishing, as they managed to do with whaling. The situation is that in Asia, seahorses are caught mainly by poachers. To put an end to this, the researcher created the Project Seahorse organization back in 1986, which is trying to protect seahorses in Vietnam, Hong Kong and the Philippines, as well as establish a civilized trade in them. Things are especially successful on the Philippine island of Handayan.

Residents of the local village of Handumon have been harvesting seahorses for centuries. However, in just ten years, from 1985 to 1995, their catches decreased by almost 70 percent. Therefore, the seahorse rescue program proposed by Amanda Vincent was perhaps the only hope for fishermen.

To begin with, it was decided to create a protected area with a total area of ​​​​thirty-three hectares, where fishing was completely prohibited. There, all the seahorses were counted and even numbered, putting a collar on them. From time to time, divers looked into this water area and checked whether the “lazy couch potatoes”, seahorses, had swum away from here.

We agreed that outside protected area will not catch males with full brood pouches. If they were caught in the net, they were thrown back into the sea. In addition, ecologists tried to replant mangroves and underwater algae forests - the natural shelters of these fish.

In some zoos - in Stuttgart, Berlin, Basel, as well as in the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the California Aquarium, breeding of these fish is successful. Perhaps they can be saved.

In the seas washing Russia, only two species of seahorses are found (although the species diversity of seahorses is great, only different seas There are 32 species of seahorses in the world). These are the Black Sea seahorse and the Japanese seahorse. The first one lives in Black and Seas of Azov, and the second is in Japanese.

“Our” seahorses are small and do not have luxurious long projections all over their bodies, like, for example, the raghorse, which lives in warm seas and masquerades as thickets of sargassum algae. Their shell modestly performs protective function: It is very strong and is usually colored to match the background color.

Like the multitude of creatures that fill the seas, skies and land, the seahorse has no link that can connect it with any other form of life. Like all major types of living creatures, the complex seahorse was created suddenly, as the book of Genesis tells us.

It's hard to believe, but in ancient times seahorses were feared and considered chthonic creatures. The Chinese are sure that skates restore male strength, and Europeans decorate their aquariums with them.

Underwater chameleons

Unlike other inhabitants of the oceans and seas, seahorses swim upright and in pairs, often with their tails tied. At the same time, like chameleons, they avoid a few enemies, imitating the color of underwater plants.

The latter property is due to the fact that seahorses are incompetent swimmers. They have a small fin on the back that makes up to 35 movements per second, and pectoral fins, which are more correctly called rudders. And the dwarf seahorse is generally recognized as the most slow fish in the world. It moves at a speed of 1.5 meters per hour.

Good eaters

Seahorses have neither teeth nor a stomach. Their digestive system resembles a ramjet engine, so they have to eat constantly so as not to die of hunger. As a rule, they cling to algae with their tenacious tails and suck up water from a distance of up to three centimeters, and at the same time simple food. Every day they consume three thousand or more brine shrimp (planktonic organisms). They also love tiny fish, carefully watching them. Interestingly, both eyes of skates can look in different directions, studying the environment.

A close relative is the needlefish

However, there are not so many people who want to feast on the seahorses themselves, except perhaps penguins, crabs, tuna, stingrays and some very hungry predators. The thing is that seahorses are very poorly digested due to excessive bonyness. Their numerous long spines and ribbon-like leathery outgrowths are also unpleasant to absorb. As shown genetic research, the ancestors of seahorses are the same needle-like ancestor from which the needle fish appeared. The split into two species occurred approximately 23 million years ago.

Non-stress resistant

The greatest danger for seahorses comes from strong rolling motion, which leads to exhaustion and complete loss of strength. They like it calm and clear water. Interestingly, these fish are very susceptible to stress. In an unusual environment, they die quickly enough, even if they have food. This is why they do not take root well in aquariums. Interestingly, seahorses are monogamous, are faithful partners and are not separated from each other throughout their lives. After the death of one of them, the widow or widower grieves greatly, which can even cause death.

The choice is up to the lady

The role of the male in choosing his mate is secondary. The female herself decides who should mate with her. Having seen a suitable candidate for a wife, she tests his passion for three days. She dances with him and rises to the surface of the water, only to sink to the bottom again. In the literature, this phenomenon is described as a “predawn dance.” This happens many times.

Future partners exchange clicking signals among themselves. The male's task is to keep up with his dancing girlfriend. If he fails, the bride looks for another groom. It is believed that this is how the female tests the strength of the male. If the choice is made, then the seahorses begin mating.

Pregnant dad

Seahorses are faithful partners and are never separated from each other throughout their lives. At the same time, the male himself bears his cubs, being the only creature on earth in which the so-called male pregnancy occurs.

The mating dance lasts eight hours and is accompanied by a change in color. During the mating process, the female transfers the eggs to her partner in the brood pouch on her abdomen. It is there that miniature seahorses are formed within 40-50 days. From 5 to 1500 fry can be born.

By the way, some scientists claim that the expression pregnant male is not true. The fact is that the responsibility of the “sea horse” is to protect the fertilized eggs. During this period, the female visits the male once a day for 6 minutes of “morning greeting”, and then swims away until the next morning. In captivity, this routine may be disrupted.

For good health

Before mature age Only one in a hundred fry survive. In fact, this figure is one of the highest for fish. Recently, the greatest danger to seahorses has been humans; in particular, about 20 million of these fish are caught annually by the Chinese for traditional medicine, primarily for the treatment of impotence.

It is also claimed that a decoction of them helps overcome nocturnal enuresis. Seahorses sell for an average of $600 to $3,000 per kilogram. There are cases when these dried fish were exchanged for gold by weight one to one. In addition to the Chinese, Indonesians and Filipinos also catch seahorses. As a result, almost all seahorse species are listed in the Red Book. And a species like the Paradoxical Seahorse is considered extinct.

Amazing creatures, seahorses are not similar to any other living creatures on Earth; they look as if they came from somewhere on another planet. And from a biological point of view, they are noticeably different from all other marine inhabitants, which is why they have long remained the focus of attention of scientists. Although they certainly look really funny, especially when they prance in the water.

Facts about seahorses

• In these creatures, it is not the female, as usual, who bears the offspring, but the male. This is the only one Living being on the ground.
• Seahorses got their name because of their visual resemblance to a knight, a chess piece.
• The smallest species of seahorses reach only 2 centimeters in length, and the largest - up to 30.
• They live only in warm climates tropical seas. Cold water disastrous for them.
• Strictly speaking, seahorses are fish ().
• The entire body of these fish is covered with spines. They serve both as camouflage and protection from predators, because seahorses do not know how to defend themselves.
• The seahorse's closest biological relative is the pipefish. Scientists have concluded that they descend from a common ancestor.
• In Chinese traditional medicine, eating skates is believed to enhance male strength.
• They are able to mimic like chameleons. By changing the color of their body, they blend in with the vegetation, thereby avoiding the attention of both predators and potential prey.
• The dorsal fin of a seahorse makes up to 30-35 movements per second.
• They all lead a very sedentary lifestyle, mainly due to their low movement speed. The slowest fish in the world is the tiny dwarf seahorse, which can swim only 1.5-2 meters in an hour.
• Seahorses do not have a stomach - incoming food is immediately digested and waste is eliminated, so they need to continuously feed throughout their lives, otherwise they will starve to death.
• Their eyes are able to look in different directions at the same time. Few living creatures on Earth have this feature.
• Contrary to his harmless-looking, all seahorses are predators. Staying motionless, they wait until prey is nearby, after which they grab it. Their victims are usually small crustaceans and shrimp ().
• The first seahorses appeared on Earth at least 13 million years ago. This is precisely the age of their oldest fossilized remains discovered by paleontologists.
• These amazing creatures monogamous. Having found a mate, they are not separated from their partner for the rest of their lives.
• Seahorses do not do well in aquariums because they are stressed. Finding themselves in an unusual environment, they are constantly afraid, nervous and often refuse to eat, eventually dying from hunger and nervous exhaustion.
• They live only in clear and calm water, but rocking, for example, in an aquarium on board a ship, can kill them.
• When choosing a mate, the female seahorse always makes the decisive choice, not the male.
• The male seahorse carries fertilized eggs in a special pocket, which his female places there, and then releases the already formed fry. Moreover, either 2-3 or 1000-1500 of them can be born - depending on your luck.
• There are 32 species of seahorses in the world, but 30 of them are on the verge of extinction. The greatest danger to them is from humans - they are actively caught because of their unusual appearance in order to be turned into souvenirs.
• Immediately after birth tiny fry seahorses swim away from their parents, left to their own devices.
• Seahorses sometimes travel on horseback large fish. They cling to their fins and leave their vehicle after reaching a suitable place such as a thicket of algae ().
• According to scientists, only 1% of fry survive to adulthood.
• In China, about 20 million seahorses are caught annually, and this is only official statistics without poaching.

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 of 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 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 wave-like movements of the 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 should not have survived the 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 to sea ​​predators could not notice the skates if they hid.

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.

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

Avid aquarists like to breed a wide variety of exotic fish and bright, unusual animals that attract with their non-standard, bizarre proportions and interesting, sometimes playful behavior. And none, and can’t even compare with the most colorful inhabitants sea ​​waters - seahorses.

The seahorse is one of the most unusual representatives of the aquarium world. Despite their bizarre shapes, all seahorses belong to the subgroup of bony marine fish, the spiny fish order.

This is interesting! There are only one males on the planet, who themselves bear their future offspring - seahorses.

If you take a closer look, you yourself will notice the striking similarity of these small bony fish with a chess piece. And how interestingly the seahorse moves in the water, bends all over and very proudly carries its magnificently built head!

Despite the apparent difficulty, keeping a seahorse is practically the same as keeping any other inhabitants of the aquarium world. But, before purchasing one or several individuals, you should take into account many factors, without which the life of this bright and interesting “sea needle” may not be as long as we would like.

Seahorses: interesting facts

The existence of the seahorse was known a thousand years before our era. IN ancient roman mythology it is said that the god of water streams and the sea, Neptune, every time he went to check his possessions, harnessed “ sea ​​needle", very similar to a horse. Therefore, for sure, Lord Neptune cannot be huge if he moved on small thirty-centimeter skates. But, seriously, it is very rare in nature today to find spinyfish that reach 30 cm in length. Most “pipits” barely reach twelve centimeters.

In our time, it is already known about the existence of fossilized remains of the ancestors of the seahorse. In the course of a study at the genetic level, scientists revealed the similarity of the seahorse with the needle fish.

What are they like - seahorses

Today, marine aquarists keep seahorses, which range in length from 12 millimeters to twenty centimeters. However, most of all, aquarists prefer to care for Hippocampus erectus, those. standard seahorses.

Seahorses were specifically named this way because the head, chest, and neck are completely similar to horse parts of the body. At the same time, they differ from fish in a different physique. The horse's head of these individuals is positioned completely differently than that of fish - in relation to the body, it is located at ninety degrees. What’s also interesting is that these sea fish have eyes that look in different directions.

And also these little, cute ones sea ​​creatures They swim not horizontally, but vertically and have scales all over their bodies, strong armor - colorful, iridescent bony plates. The shell of these sea needle-shaped individuals is “steel”, so that it cannot be penetrated.

I would also like to mention interesting property twisted, long tail of a sea fish in the shape of a spiral. If seahorses feel that there is a predator nearby, they very quickly run into shelter, algae, which they skillfully cling to with their spiral tail and manage to hide.

This is interesting! Feeling that danger threatens, sea fish - skates cling with the help of their long tails for corals or algae and remain for a long time motionless, hanging upside down.

Despite such a cute appearance, seahorses are classified as predatory fish, as they feed on shrimp and sea crustaceans.

The seahorse has the ability to camouflage itself. They mimic like chameleons, taking on the color of the place they stop at. Basically, these marine fish like to hide where there are richer, brighter colors to avoid predators. And also with the help bright colors, a male, attracts the attention of a female, which he really liked. To please the female, he can even “put on” her color.

Seahorses, despite their numbers, are considered rare fish, therefore their thirty subspecies are listed in the Red Book. The problem is that from year to year the world's oceans turn into a universally polluted, garbage "dump", which is why corals and algae die en masse, and these photosynthetic organisms are vital for seahorses.

And also, the seahorse itself has long been a valuable animal. The Chinese catch these fish in large numbers because they believe that they cure any disease. In many European countries dead seahorses automatically become raw materials for the manufacture of various souvenir products.

Keeping seahorses at home

Bony seahorses are unusual, bright, funny and very beautiful creatures. Maybe, feeling their beauty and greatness, they become very “capricious” when they find themselves in captivity. And to make these fish feel good, even experienced aquarists should try very hard. It should be created for them natural environment habitat so that animals feel the same there as in sea ​​water. It is very important to keep track temperature conditions aquariums. Seahorses will feel comfortable in cool water with a temperature of twenty-three to twenty-five degrees Celsius, but no more. During hot periods, be sure to install a split system above the aquarium; you can simply turn on the fan. The hot air can suffocate these little creatures even in warm water.

Before placing purchased skates in an aquarium with regular water, check its quality: it should not contain phosphates or ammonia. The maximum concentration of nitrates in water is allowed at a level of ten ppm. Also, don’t forget to install your favorite seahorse algae and corals in the aquarium. Surface grottoes made of artificial material will also look beautiful.

So, you have taken care of the seahorse house. Taking care of nutrition will also be important for them, because these beautiful inhabitants sea ​​people like to eat a lot of meat and exotic foods often. A seahorse should eat at least four to five times a day, receiving meat from shrimp and crustaceans. To do this, you can buy frozen invertebrate molluscs and crustaceans. Seahorses love Mysis shrimp and will happily eat moths and even daphnia.

• All seahorses suffer from limited gas exchange due to low gill efficiency. This is why constant water filtration and oxygen supply is a vital process for seahorses.
• Seahorses do not have stomachs; therefore, in order to maintain themselves normally and not lose energy balance, they require a lot of food.
• Seahorses do not have scales, which is why they are easily susceptible to any infections, especially bacterial ones. An ecosystem moderator in a confined space should frequently inspect the seahorse's body, which may be damaged.
• Seahorses have interesting mouths - proboscis, with the help of which these creatures suck up caught prey with such speed that they can swallow a dozen spineless mollusks at a time.

Reproduction of seahorses

Seahorses are skilled cavaliers! They begin their courtship with mating dance, which is shown to the female. If everything worked out, the fish touch each other, wrap themselves around each other and look closely. This is how seahorses get to know each other. After numerous “embraces,” the female begins, using her genital nipple, to throw a large army of eggs into the male’s purse. Transparent fry seahorses are born after 30 days in numbers from twenty to two hundred individuals. The fry are born by males!

This is interesting! In nature, there is a subspecies of male extraordinary seahorses capable of bearing over a thousand fry.

It is noteworthy that the male seahorse has a very difficult time giving birth; after giving birth, within a day, or even two, he rests for a long time at the bottom of the reservoir. And only the male, not the female, takes care of his babies for a long time, who, in case of impending danger, can again hide in their father’s brood pouch.

Seahorse's aquarium neighbors

Seahorses are unpretentious and mysterious animals. They can very easily get along with other fish and invertebrate species. Only small fish, very slow and careful, are suitable for them as neighbors. Such neighbors for skates can be fish - gobies and blennies. Among the invertebrates, we can highlight the snail, which is an excellent aquarium cleaner and also does not sting corals.

You can also place live stones in aquariums with needlefish, the main thing is that they are completely healthy and do not cause diseases.

Where to buy a seahorse

Any online aquarium and pet store offers live pictures and photographs of different types of seahorses that will help you choose the most ideal option.

It is here or in any pet store in your city that you can purchase a seahorse at the best prices. In the future, many pet stores offer significant discounts for their regular customers, ranging from 10% and higher when ordering a batch of seahorses.