Sea Horses

A sea horse is one of the most unusual of all fish in its appearance.
The sea horse hardly appears to be a fish at all. It's horselike head is joined to the body at right angles and is on a flexible neck to allow the sea horse to peer about. The sea horse relies on it's resemblance to seaweed for protection. In fact it spends much of it's time holding on to seaweeds and other fixed objects with it's tail.

The most fascinating characteristic of the sea horse is the fact that it is the male sea horse that carries the eggs until they hatch. The male has a kangaroolike pouch on its abdomen. The female deposits the eggs into the pouch where they are held until they are hatched. The eggs are fertilized as they enter the pouch and hatch in approximately 10 days. Once they are hatched the male releases them a few at a time. This may take some time as over 400 eggs have been hatched by one male!

There are approximately 50 species of sea horses. They live in warm tropical seas in shallow waters.
Sea horses generally range in size from one to twelve inches.
The food of the sea horse consists of very small shrimp and other minute marine animals.

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