Pipefish and seahorses are caring parents. The most interesting thing about seahorses The seahorse bears eggs

The reproduction of seahorses that live in tropical seas and those inhabiting temperate latitudes differs slightly.

In tropical species, it is quite common to see males greeting females at first light, swimming around their darlings and probably confirming their readiness to reproduce. It is noticed that the male’s chest area turns dark; he bows his head and thus makes circles around the female, touching the bottom with his tail. The female does not move from her place, but rotates around her axis following the male. Male temperate seahorses, on the other hand, inflate their pouch, causing the taut skin to become almost white.

During the breeding season, this greeting ritual is repeated every morning, after which the pair proceeds to “breakfast”, remaining in a relatively limited area. At the same time, partners try not to let each other out of sight. As the moment of mating approaches, the greeting ritual continues throughout the day.

It is very important that the fish mature at the same time. On the day when mating occurs, the ritual becomes more frequent. At some point, the female suddenly raises her head and begins to swim upward, and the male follows her. At this stage, the female's ovipositor becomes visible and the male's pouch opens. The female inserts the ovipositor into the opening of the pouch and lays eggs within a few seconds.

If one of the partners is not ready, then spawning is interrupted and everything starts again. The number of eggs depends, as a rule, on the size of the male (it can be a small, young male, or an adult specimen) and on the type of fish. Some species produce from 30 to 60 eggs per spawning, others - about 500 or more. Synchronization is important

For mating, it is very important that the reproductive products of both partners mature at the same time. In long-established pairs, mating occurs without a hitch at any time of the day, while in newly formed pairs, one of the partners must wait for the other and remain in “full readiness” for several days.

The moment of hatching of the fry is also extremely important for many fish. Seahorses navigate the high and low tides when the current is strongest and can guarantee widespread distribution of offspring. The tides are regulated by the lunar cycle and are particularly intense during the full moon. Therefore, it is not surprising that seahorses reproduce most actively during certain phases of the moon.

The species I was observing showed reproductive activity during the full moon, and the birth of the fry - four weeks after spawning - again occurred on the full moon, and a few days later the males were ready to accept a new clutch. During the breeding season, spawning was repeated every four weeks.

The fry hatched in their father's pouch and immediately left it. A lot of fry appear at the same time, which forces the male from time to time to bend his body forward in order to push them out. Seahorse fry are left to their own devices, since after hatching their parents stop caring for them.

In some species, the fry lead a pelagic lifestyle and drift with the current, while in others they remain in one place. In close relatives of the pipefish, the reproduction process is essentially the same, but seahorses are the only members of their family that completely hide their eggs in their skin. The rest use folds of skin that cover the caviar or attach it to special depressions in the body.

The reason for such care of seahorses for their offspring may be that in the thickets of grass where fish live, a large number of invertebrates live, for which eggs serve as food.

In free-swimming pipefish and dragonfish, such contact rarely occurs, so there is no need for additional protection of the offspring. Evolution of role reversal But how did the role reversal occur, as a result of which males of species of the family Syngnathidae began to bear eggs?

This, of course, can only be guessed at, but if you take a closer look at fish of related families with a normal reproduction process, a definite conclusion arises about how everything could have been.

Like many fish, the ancestors of synnatids probably spawned like this: the male and female moved upward synchronously and simultaneously released eggs and milt. After fertilization, the eggs were carried by the current, or they settled and stuck, for example, to the stems of sea grass. If such “sticky” eggs developed successfully and the fry from them survived, then it can be assumed that in subsequent generations the stickiness only increased. And then, probably, individual eggs were glued to the male's abdomen, which gave them the best chance of survival and protection from predators.

If everything was so, then in the process of evolution fish improved such “care for offspring.”

Seahorses became the first fish in marine aquariums in Japan and Europe. Many species are not only successfully kept in captivity, but also reproduce, but this requires a lot of effort and time. There is not a single line in scientific publications about keeping and breeding skates in aquariums, but reports about this appear in aquarium magazines, which, however, are not widely distributed.

Personally, I wrote an article about aquarium breeding of sea dragons from caviar, that is, about fish that are considered unsuitable for an aquarium. After it appeared in a recognized magazine, these fish and their breeding methods very quickly became objects of interest, especially for public aquariums.

Live food

Many aquarists breed seahorses, and many public aquariums breed these fish. This mainly occurs in Europe, Japan and Singapore.

Interestingly, many people breed the Australian species H. abdominalis, a fairly large skate that easily adapts to captivity conditions.

I have been able to propagate H. whitei from Sydney and H. abdominalis and H. breviceps from Melbourne. In principle, everything is not so difficult. All that is needed is good sea water, an aquarium, decorations that imitate a natural biotope, and a regular supply of high-quality food for the fish.

The latter can be a problem, especially if the hobbyist does not have good and sufficiently nutritious frozen food. I had a similar situation, so every second day I had to go to the sea and dive to catch food for my skates.

But with so much effort, breeding these fish was not difficult.

I started in 1980 by breeding H. breviceps and H. abdominalis, with the goal of photographing the birth of the fry. However, as it soon became clear, this task was not at all easy. I still could not get to the right moment and usually discovered the hatched fry in the morning hours. It took several months before I managed to catch the moment of “birth”, which proceeds very quickly.

"One-Eyed Bandit"

In 1992, I decided to take tropical seahorse species more seriously. I caught four male and three female H. whitei in Sydney Harbour. One of the males was one-eyed, and another was “pregnant.”

I planted them in an aquarium with an area of ​​one square meter and a height of 50 cm. The water temperature was just over 20°C - an absolutely normal indicator for this species. Of all the animals, only two formed a pair and, seven days after the birth of the fry, began mating; the remaining “non-pregnant” males began to court all the females in a row.

The one-eyed male did not lag behind the others and increasingly won the attention of one of the females bearing eggs, but in the subsequent “dance ritual”, describing circles around his chosen one, he suddenly lost sight of her.

As far as I can tell, he didn't have a successful mating. The males also tried to expel their friend, thereby getting rid of competitors. They bit their rivals, which was accompanied by a clicking sound. Such behavior prevented the pipits, who had not yet mated, from “tuning in” to each other: once, for example, eggs fell past the male’s pouch.

Often males with dark chests chased females, but there was no noticeable reaction from the latter. Once a one-eyed male began to “besiege” a very large female with a large amount of eggs, which, however, did not reciprocate his feelings and found herself another male. True, he showed no interest in her.

The following year, partners often changed each other, and the males continued to see each other only as rivals. For example, one who had just given birth to fry began to besiege another “pregnant” male, who initially hid behind “his” female, but was later driven out by a burst of furious clicking.

1000 fry per season

At intervals of four weeks, my skates gave birth to fry, which I raised in a community aquarium. They grew very quickly, but for this I had to regularly catch food in the ocean that the fry could swallow.

The number of fry was so large that I could not leave them all in the aquarium, therefore, after growing up the fry, I released them into the ocean, approximately from 50 to 200 individuals per month. At birth, the length of the fry reached 12 mm, and within two weeks they doubled in size.

A year later, the health of my “savages” deteriorated and they stopped spawning. On average, each pair produced 80 fry per month, that is, more than 1000 during the year. Interestingly, the reproductive activity of pairs increased, as in nature, during the full moon. Soon the few fry that I had left for myself began to reproduce.

"Eternal love"?

My intensive studies in breeding seahorses were prompted not only by my own desire to observe the mating and birth of fish, but also by numerous requests from other aquarists who were interested in these processes.

I could not find an explanation for much of what I saw. For example, during a strong storm, all the skates gathered at the top of the stem of sea grass, forming something like a vine. And the matings themselves were fraught with a few surprises.

For example, my seahorses turned out to be not as monogamous as described in the literature!

While photographing a species of H. breviceps one day, I noticed how one of the females intervened at the moment of mating and transferred her eggs to the male’s already open pouch. Another time, the male accepted eggs from two females at once.

And although these observations were made in an aquarium, I am sure that similar things happen in nature. It seems to me that the assumption of monogamy in seahorses has no basis. Observations in natural conditions last a short time and do not give even a hint of how animals will behave in a year.

Mating requires synchronized maturation, and in this sense, pipits are no different from other reef fish, so I can imagine that during the height of the breeding season it is very difficult to find a new partner.

In such conditions, it is quite advisable for partners to remain together throughout the entire breeding season.

However, for most, if not all, species, caring for offspring is a “seasonal job”, and this season depends on changes in climate in the relevant geographical area.

In the tropics, pipits begin spawning immediately after the rainy period, and in subtropical zones in the spring, when there should be enough food in the water for the young. After the breeding season, the animals seem to go their separate ways and go (or better yet, swim) their way. Some species migrate to other zones, often to depths. Sometimes at this time I came across reefs on which there were only males or only females, so it seems to me that in nature, seahorses form their pairs only at the beginning of the breeding season.

Among unusual fish, the seahorse is particularly unusual: it is difficult to recognize it as a fish. Let's talk a little about seahorses - how are they different from their other brothers from the class of fish?

Almost all fish swim the same way: the body is located horizontally and in the direction of movement. In seahorses, when swimming, the body is vertical, or slightly tilted forward. The strange way the body is positioned when swimming in seahorses is associated with the structure of these fish.

Fins and swim bladder

In most fish we see several fins: dorsal, caudal, anal, paired abdominal and paired pectoral. Seahorses have half as many fins: they have only three fins that help them move in the water:

• A very small fan-shaped dorsal fin is necessary for forward locomotion.
• Tiny pectoral fins help maintain vertical balance and control movement.

The swim bladder helps them support their body vertically. It is located along the entire body, its front part extends into the head, which is typical only for this fish.

The swim bladder is divided into two parts. The volume of the head part of the bladder is noticeably larger than the abdominal part. It is this structure of the swim bladder that contributes to the vertical position of the skate when swimming. The seahorse is designed like a float: the upper part of the body is lighter than the lower part. The center of gravity is shifted downwards - to the tail part of the body, so the head is lighter and is located at the top.

Reproduction: Ritual morning greetings and male color changes

How seahorses reproduce - the incredible and strange uniqueness of this amazing fish. The male and female seem to have switched roles - the male carries and gives birth to the cubs. Scientists learned about this quite recently - in the last century.

Before talking about reproduction, you need to pay attention to the external integument of the seahorses:

• The body of seahorses is covered on top with bony plates that form very strong spiny armor. This is a real shell that is difficult to break even in dead fish.
• The female's body is completely covered with bony plates, while the male has no plates at the base of the abdomen. Because here is a voluminous leathery pocket in which he bears his offspring.

Reproduction of seahorses living in tropical seas has interesting behavioral features. Early in the morning, males perform ritual greetings: each male swims around his chosen one, as if demonstrating readiness to reproduce. It is noted that at these moments the male’s shell in the chest area turns dark. With his head bowed, he moves in circles around the female, his tail slightly touching the bottom.

What about the female? She reacts to this behavior of the male - she begins to spin around herself after the male, but does not move from her place. During the breeding season, the greeting ritual is repeated every morning. Having completed this peculiar dance, the couple begins to have breakfast. The fish remain in a limited area and try to keep each other in sight. The closer the moment of mating, the longer the greeting ritual becomes and can even last the whole day.

In temperate latitudes, male seahorses during the breeding season inflate their leathery pouch so that the skin becomes very stretched and becomes almost white.

Mating and spawning

We continue to explore the process of how seahorses reproduce and how mating occurs:

• Mating requires that the male and female mature at the same time.
• On the day of mating, during the greeting ritual, at a certain moment the female sharply raises her head and swims upward.
• The male moves after her. At this moment, the female’s ovipositor is clearly visible, and the male’s pouch opens wide.
• The female directs the ovipositor into the wide opening of the pouch and lays eggs there.
• The process of laying eggs occurs in several stages, each lasting a few seconds. The female lays eggs until the bag is completely filled (it can hold more than 600 eggs).

If one of the partners is not ready, spawning is interrupted and the whole process begins again. The number of eggs laid usually depends on the size of the male and the type of fish. Different species produce from 30 - 60 eggs to 500 or more per spawning. For example, a long-snouted seahorse: an aged 10-12 centimeter female can lay more than 650 eggs.

Let's talk a little about male seahorses:

• The male's readiness to mate is also manifested in a change in the internal state of the skin of the pocket: from the inside it becomes like a sponge filled with blood vessels.
• The large number of blood vessels on the inside of the bursa plays an important role in the development of eggs. This is an amazing feature of the structure of male seahorses!

When the eggs are laid and the pouch is completely filled with “priceless cargo,” the future daddy horse swims away with an inflated pocket, becoming like a unique “living stroller” filled with cubs.

The birth of small hippocampuses - seahorses

After 1-2 months, tiny fry are born - exact copies of their parents. The male squeezes his offspring through a special hole in the pouch. When pushing out the last baby, the father fish can sometimes experience very strong and noticeable “birth pangs.” Therefore, the birth of babies is a very exhausting process for the male.

Immediately after birth, seahorse fry become independent because they do not receive any help from their parents. They begin to feed immediately after leaving the pouch. Different species have different behavioral strategies: the fry of some species move with the flow, while others remain in the place of birth.

Are seahorses monogamous?

For a long time it was believed that seahorses are monogamous - they mate with one permanent partner.

It is likely that early naturalists who observed this behavior in one or two species concluded that it was characteristic of all seahorses. Over time, observations by both amateur aquarists and ichthyologists have proven that this is a myth. Seahorses are not at all monogamous.

British ichthyologists studied the sexual behavior of seahorses of different species and saw that individual individuals can “flirt” with 25 different partners during the day. For example, only five pairs of British spiny seahorses were faithful to each other, but twelve pairs were not.

In the home aquarium, there have also been cases where a male accepted eggs from two females at the same time. It is likely that similar behavior during reproduction can be observed in nature too.

Signs of courtship in seahorses include color changes, synchronized swimming, and intertwining of tails.

Menu of seahorses in nature and in the aquarium

What do seahorses eat in the wild? Their food is tiny zooplankton (crustaceans). By type of feeding they are ambush predators:

• Having a camouflage camouflage, its tail caught in the algae, the fish stands vertically in the water and tracks down its prey.
• Having noticed the crustacean, the horse examines it for a couple of seconds, rolling its eyes in a funny way.
• Then he inflates his cheeks, so high pressure is created in his mouth.
• And immediately, like a vacuum cleaner, he pulls the crustacean into his mouth and swallows it.
• Prey can be retracted from a distance of 4 cm.

Seahorses feed up to 10 hours a day and can eat more than 3,000 thousand brine shrimp. In the aquarium, these voracious fish willingly eat shrimp, live and frozen mysids, artemia, daphnia, and bloodworms. It is recommended to feed them twice a day daily, and the food should be varied. On some brine shrimp, pipits may feel hungry.

The place of the seahorse in the fish system, the Red Book and 2 hryvnia

Seahorses are small sea fish, ranging in size from 2 to 30 cm. They belong to the phylum of chordates, the subphylum of vertebrates, the superclass of fish - the class of bony fish and the subclass of ray-finned fish, the order Stickleback, the family of spiny fish, the genus seahorses. The closest relatives of seahorses are pipefish, in which the male also bears the offspring.

Seahorses are currently on the verge of extinction. Many species are listed in the Red Book, for example the long-snouted seahorse from the Black Sea. This horse is depicted on a coin with a face value of 2 hryvnia, which was issued by the National Bank of Ukraine.

The massive catch of these exotic fish for making souvenirs has led to their complete disappearance in the Black Sea recreation areas. And since 1994, the Black Sea population of this species is listed in the Red Book of Ukraine, and its catching is prohibited.

Children really like seahorses. Make a “Seahorse” bookmark with your child and, while completing a creative task, study the features of the appearance of this amazing fish.

The message about the seahorse can be used in preparation for the lesson. A story about a seahorse for children can be supplemented with interesting facts.

Report about the seahorse

Seahorses belong to the class of bony fish. There are about 50 species in total. Seahorses can range in size from 2 to 30 cm, depending on the species. An ordinary seahorse can live 5 years.

Their body shape is similar to a chess piece of a knight. Numerous long spines and ribbon-like leathery outgrowths located on the skate’s body make it invisible among the algae and inaccessible to predators.

The habitat of seahorses is tropical and subtropical seas.

Seahorse description

The head of these fish is similar to that of a horse, but there are no scales. Their body is covered with hard bony plates. With its tail bent forward, the seahorse clings to the stems of sea grass like a monkey. A seahorse's eyes rotate in any direction, and if one eye is looking to the right, the other may be looking at something to the left at the same time. This is very convenient for the skate, since it can simultaneously inspect the algae from all sides in search of food and keep an eye on the enemies, who themselves would not mind eating it.

The seahorse does not like to swim and spends most of its life with its tail caught in algae. Swims slowly and only in search of food, during weddings and to escape from enemies.

It's interesting to watch a seahorse swim. A large swim bladder located in the skate's head helps it maintain an upright position. It does not move horizontally, but jerks up and down, moving diagonally in the direction of the target.

What do seahorses eat?

Seahorses lead a bottom-dwelling lifestyle, feeding on plankton and small invertebrates.

Reproduction of seahorses

These animals also have an unusual method of reproduction. When the eggs reach the desired stage, the females begin to compete with each other for male attention. Having achieved favor, the female lays part of the eggs in a special sac, which is located on the male’s abdomen. There the eggs are fertilized. The male carries the eggs until the young hatch. There can be from 2 to 1000 individuals. If many cubs are born, their father may even die. During the breeding season, fry hatch every 4 weeks. Immediately after birth, they are left to their own devices.

Interesting facts about seahorses

• The pipit is very bony, so it is hunted only by large land crabs that can digest it.
• Seahorses' eyes are similar to those of chameleons and can move independently of each other;
• The seahorse is a master of camouflage. Their scales can become “invisible” - merge with the environment;
• Their mouth works like a vacuum cleaner - they suck up plankton to eat.

We hope the information presented about the seahorse helped you. You can leave your report about the seahorse using the comment form.

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 know about:

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.

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 crustaceans and shrimps- 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, their choice of comrades 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.