WHAT IS A SEAHORSE?

• They are fish, but on the contrary to most other fish have an exo-skeleton
• There are more than 50 species of seahorses
• Found in shallow tropical and temperate waters throughout the world, mainly in sheltered areas with lots of seaweeds and grasses.
• Seahorses vary widely in size, they can be as small as a pumpkin seed or as large as a banana.
• They mainly eat little shrimp, fish, plankton and fish larvae
• Less than 1/1000 will become an adult due to predators
• They only live between 1-5 years
• They can camouflage to hide in its surrounding
• Their small dorsal fin beats at 30-70 times per second
• Seahorses are territorial and are very slow swimmers, in fact they can only swim about 5 feet per hour

WHAT MAKES SEAHORSES SO SPECIAL?

• They have existed for 13 million years
• They mate for life
• They don’t have a gut, so they must eat almost constantly since food passes through its digestive system so quickly
• In the breeding season, the mates come together each morning and perform elaborate mating dances.
• Being one of the very few animal species where the male carries their babies. The female depositing her eggs into his pouch, and the male fertilising them internally
• The male can birth up to 1,500 fry (baby seahorse) at one time
• A male seahorse can deliver babies in the morning and be pregnant again by nightfall
• Babies are born fully formed and are completely independent of their parents
• They have excellent eyesight and their eyes work independently of each other

WHAT IS THE THREAT TO SEAHORSES?

• Except for crabs, seahorses have very few natural predators, mainly because they are too bony and indigestible
• Seahorses are in theory protected by international trade convention CITES, however are known to be traded on the black market, mainly in Asia.
• The Traditional Chinese Medicine Trade takes in excess of up to 150 million seahorses a year from the wild and these are used for all types of medicine.
• Habitat loss threatens seahorses as they inhabit shallow areas that are easily influenced by human activities

Written by the Nature Unite team