Quick Facts
- Type
- Fish
- Size
- About 8–15 cm tall
- Weight
- A few grams
- Habitat
- Seagrass beds and shallow coastal waters
- Diet
- Tiny crustaceans and plankton
- Active Time
- Active by day (diurnal)
- Lifespan
- 1–4 years
Field Notes
- Male seahorses, not females, become pregnant and give birth to the young.
- They are among the slowest fish, swimming upright with a tiny fluttering fin.
- Their independently moving eyes let them watch for prey and predators at once.
About the Seahorse
The seahorse is a small marine fish named for its horse-shaped head, found in shallow coastal waters and seagrass beds. It swims upright, propelled by a rapidly fluttering dorsal fin, and anchors itself to plants and corals with a coiling, prehensile tail. Its body is encased in bony rings rather than scales, and it feeds by sucking tiny crustaceans through its long tubular snout. Seahorses are famous for their unusual reproduction: the female deposits eggs into the male's pouch, and the male carries and gives birth to the young.
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