Seahorse….The Unique Species Ever !!!!!!!!!! Eager to KNOW???

Seahorse….The  Unique  Species  Ever !!!!!!!!!! eager to know???
by :nazzatul shazleen borhan

                                          

Seahorses are the most unique species which comes from the fish genus. It comes from the family of Syngnathiformes. There are 50 species of seahorses all over the world which can be found in shallow tropical and temperate waters. Most of the seahorses can be found at sheltered area such as coral reefs, mangrove and sea grass. This species is the only species which the male seahorse will be pregnant and give birth to their children. Amazing  right?

                                       This type of fish usually measuring at about 16mm to 35 cm. But for certain cases of the dwarf seahorses, it only measuring at about 2.5 cm only which have the same size as the diameter of 50 cent coins! It is a bony fish but do not have scales like the other fishes have. Only thin skin covers its bony plates which arranged in rings. It has distinct number of rings and without caudal fin. The pectoral fins located behind of their eyes are use to steer.

Seahorses are unlike fishes. It is a poor swimmer which only can swim upright by using their dorsal fin. We can differentiate every single of them by the coronets on their heads which will not be the same as the other seahorses like the human fingerprint. They usually anchor themselves with their prehensile tails to the sea grasses and suck in plankton and small crustaceans that drift by by using their elongated snouts. Voracious eaters, they graze continually and can consume 3,000 or more brine shrimp per day. It can also eat plankton, tiny fish  and crustaceans. For a certain unusual condition, the seahorse will turn to bright in colour.

                                                In reproduction, the male seahorses are the one who will get into pregnancy and giving birth to the young. They have a brood pouch which is a part of the reproductive organ and the place where the embryos develop. While mating, the female seahorses will transfer at about 1500 eggs to the male brood pouch. During this time they may change color, swim side by side and holding tails or grip the same strand of sea grass with their tails and wheel around in unison in what is known as a “pre-dawn dance". This ‘dance’ will take about 8 hours and then the male seahorses will pumps water into the egg pouch on his trunk which expands and opens to show its emptiness. Thousands of eggs transfer from the female seahorses cause the body slim and the male brood pouch expand. Both of them will sink and the female will swim away.

The male seahorses will release sperm to the eggs to fertilize those eggs and then a layer of spongy tissue will be formed. The male supplies the eggs with prolactin, the hormone responsible for milk production in pregnant mammals. The pouch provides oxygen. The eggs then hatch in the pouch Throughout gestation, which in most species requires two to four weeks, his mate visits him daily for “morning greetings”. They interact for about 6 minutes, reminiscent of courtship. The female then swims away until the next morning, and the male returns to vacuuming up food through his snout. The male carry those eggs at about 9 to 45 days. Many species of seahorses form pair bonds that last through at least the breeding season. Some species show a higher level of mate fidelity than others. 

Seahorses population are now in endangered. 20 millions of seahorses are found to be catched every year for Chinese medicine. Do anyone care??? Think of it…..