Seahorse is a genus of small marine bony fishes of the family of marine needles of the order needle-shaped. The number of species of seahorses amounts to about 50. The unusual shape of the body of the ridge resembles a chess piece of a horse. Numerous long spikes and ribbon-like leathery outgrowths located on the body of the ridge make it invisible among algae and inaccessible to predators. The sizes of seahorses are from 2 to 30 cm, depending on the species to which a particular individual belongs. An interesting feature of a seahorse is that the male carries their offspring.

The taxonomy of the seahorse is very confusing due to the unique ability of these fish to change their appearance - color and even body shape. The closest relatives of seahorses are small fish - sea needles, which have much in common in the structure of the body with horses. However, the shape of the body and the manner of movement in the water of sea "horses" are completely unusual.

The body of seahorses in water is not traditional for fish - vertically or diagonally. The reason for this is a relatively large swim bladder, most of which is located in the upper body of the seahorse. It is impossible to confuse these graceful and colorful fish, similar to jewelry or toys, with any inhabitant of the water element.

The body of a seahorse is not covered with scales, but with bone plates. Barbed armor protects them from danger. The armor is so strong that it is almost impossible to break even in a dead dead stomach. However, in his shell he is so light and fast that he literally soars in water, and his body shimmers with all the colors of the rainbow - from orange to gray-blue, from lemon yellow to fiery red. In terms of brightness, it is just right to compare this fish with tropical birds and brightly colored coral reef fish.

These fish inhabit the seas of the tropical and subtropical zones. Their range encircles the entire globe. Seahorses live in shallow water among thickets of seaweed or among corals. These are sedentary and generally very inactive fish. Typically, seahorses wrap their tail with a twig of coral or a bundle of sea grass and spend most of their time in this position. But large sea dragons cannot attach to vegetation. For short distances they swim holding the body vertically, if they have to leave the "house", then they can swim in an almost horizontal position. They swim slowly. In general, the nature of these fish is surprisingly calm and meek; seahorses do not show aggression towards their fellow tribesmen and other fish.

They feed on plankton. They track down the smallest crustaceans, funny turning eyes. As soon as the victim approaches the miniature hunter, the seahorse swells its cheeks, creating negative pressure in the oral cavity and sucks the crustacean like a vacuum cleaner. Despite their small size, skates are big lovers of food and can indulge in gluttony up to 10 hours a day.

Seahorses have only three small fins: the dorsal helps to swim forward, and two branchial fins maintain vertical balance and serve as a rudder.

In a minute of danger, seahorses can significantly accelerate movement by flapping fins up to 35 times per second (some scientists even call the number 70). Masterfully they succeed in vertical maneuvers. By changing the volume of the swim bladder, these fish move up and down in a spiral. Nevertheless, seahorses are not capable of swimming swiftly - they are considered the record holders for the slowness of swimming among famous fish. Most of the time, a seahorse hangs motionless in the water, with its tail catching on an algae, coral, or even a relative of a congener.

Skates can move "riding" on fish. Thanks to its curved tail, seahorses can travel long distances. They grab onto the fins of the perch and hold on until the fish swims in the thickets of algae. And skates grab their pair with their tail and swim in an embrace.

The eyes of the seahorses are large, the vision is pretty sharp. Their tail is bent by a hook to the stomach, and horns of various shapes adorn their heads.

The eyes of the skates move independently of one another. The organ of vision of a seahorse is similar to the eyes of a chameleon. One eye of these fish can look forward, and the second - to see what is happening behind.

Seahorses have the ability to change the color of their bodies, which allows them to skillfully disguise themselves in thickets and among the bottom landscape. A lurking seahorse is almost impossible to see in an ambush unless you look very closely. The ability to camouflage is necessary for seahorses both for protection and for successful hunting, because they belong to active predators.

In the seas washing the coast of Russia, seahorses are represented by only two or three species - the Black Sea seahorse: found in the Black and Azov Seas, as well as the Japanese seahorse living in the Sea of \u200b\u200bJapan. Occasionally, in the Black Sea, one can meet the long-mouthed seahorse, common in the seas of the Mediterranean basin. For permanent residence, seahorses choose quieter places; they don’t like the rough current and noisy tidal waves.

Seahorses are monogamous fish, they live in married couples, but periodically can change partners. It is characteristic that these fish hatched eggs, with males and females changing roles. In the mating season, a female ovipositor grows in females, and in the male, thickened folds in the tail area form a bag. Before spawning, partners perform a long mating dance.

The female lays eggs in the male’s bag and he carries them for about 2 weeks. Newborn fry come out of the bag through a narrow hole. Sea dragons have no bags and spawn on the stem of the tail. Fertility of different species ranges from 5 to 1500 fry. Newborn fish are completely independent and move away from the parental pair.

Among seahorses there are also very small representatives, the size of a couple of centimeters, there are also some kind of giants up to 30 centimeters long. The smallest species is the dwarf seahorse, found in the Gulf of Mexico. Its length does not exceed four centimeters. In the Black and Mediterranean Seas, one can meet a long-faced or spotted seahorse, whose length reaches 12-18 centimeters. The most famous representatives of the species Hippocampus kuda, which lives off the coast of Indonesia. Seahorses of this species, their length is about 14 centimeters, are brightly and colorful, some are speckled, others are striped. The largest seahorses are found near Australia.

The life expectancy of seahorses is on average 3-4 years. The extreme survivability of these fish is known - when extracted from the water, they can live for several hours and return to normal if released into their native element.

Seahorses have few natural enemies - his body is extremely bony and covered with bone formations. Therefore, only a large land crab preys on it, which is able to digest such hard-to-digest prey. For humans, seahorses are not dangerous. This is a peaceful innocuous fish, also very small.

The man himself poses a great danger to seahorses. Today, seahorses are on the verge of extinction - their livestock is rapidly declining. The Red Book contains 30 species of 32 seahorses known to science. There are many reasons for this, and one of them is the massive capture of skates off the coast of Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and the Philippines. The exotic appearance of the fish doomed them to the fact that people use them as souvenirs and gifts.

A separate point in reducing the population of seahorses is the fact that the taste of these fish is extremely appreciated by gourmets. The liver and caviar of seahorses are considered a delicacy, although they have some laxative properties. Seahorses in some restaurants cost up to $ 800 per serving.

A huge number of seahorses (according to some estimates - up to 80 million skates per year) are used in the countries of the Pacific region of Asia and in Australia for the production of medicines and potions. These drugs are used as painkillers for cough and asthma, and also as a remedy for impotence. In recent years, this Far Eastern "Viagra" has become popular in Europe. People have known about the healing properties of meat of seahorses since ancient times. Seahorses have been used for the preparation of various medicines and potions in many countries.

It’s not very easy to keep seahorses in aquariums; they are demanding on food and susceptible to diseases, but it’s very interesting to watch them.

Seahorses can sing. During the mating season, they perform peculiar dances around their partners and partners and accompany themselves with clicking sounds, the pace of which can change.

Based on anatomical, molecular and genetic studies, it was revealed that the seahorse is a highly altered needle fish. Petrified remains of seahorses are quite rare. The fossils of the species Hippocampus guttulatus (synonymous with H. ramulosus) from the formations of the Marecchia river (Italian province of Rimini) are the most studied. These findings are dated to the Lower Pliocene (about 3 million years ago). The earliest fossils of seahorses are considered to be two Midiocene needle-like species Hippocampus sarmaticus and Hippocampus slovenicus found in Slovenia. Their age is estimated at 13 million years. According to the molecular clock method, the species of seahorses and needle fish were divided in the Late Oligocene. There is a theory that this genus appeared in response to the emergence of large areas of shallow water, which was caused by tectonic events. The appearance of extensive shallows led to the spread of algae, and, as a result, animals living in this environment.

One appearance of these fish sets up for pleasant associations with childhood, toys and fairy tales. A skate swims in an upright position and so gracefully tilts his head that, looking at him, it is impossible not to compare him with some little magic horse.

It is covered not with scales, but with bone plates. However, in his shell he is so light and fast that he literally soars in water, and his body shimmers with all colors - from orange to gray-blue, from lemon yellow to fiery red. In terms of brightness, it is just right to compare this fish with tropical birds.

Seahorses inhabit the coastal waters of tropical and subtropical seas. But they are also found in the North Sea, for example, off the south coast of England. Choose a quieter place; they do not like the rapid current.

Among them there are dwarfs the size of a little finger, and there are giants of about thirty centimeters. The smallest species - Hippocampus zosterae (dwarf seahorse) - is found in the Gulf of Mexico. Its length does not exceed four centimeters, and the body is very hardy.

In the Black and Mediterranean Seas, one can meet the long-faced, spotted Hippocampus guttulatus, whose length reaches 12-18 centimeters. The most famous representatives of the species Hippocampus kuda, which lives off the coast of Indonesia. Seahorses of this species (their length is 14 centimeters) are brightly and colorful, some are speckled, others are striped. The largest seahorses are found near Australia.

Whether they are dwarfs or giants, seahorses are similar to each other like brothers: a gullible look, capricious lips and an elongated "horse" muzzle. Their tail is bent by a hook to the stomach, and horns adorn their heads. It is impossible to confuse these graceful and colorful fish, similar to jewelry or toys, with any inhabitant of the water element.

   How is pregnancy in males?

Even now, zoologists find it difficult to say how many species of seahorses are there. Perhaps 30–32 species, although this figure can be changed. The fact is that seahorses are hard to classify. Their appearance is too changeable. Yes, and they know how to hide so that a needle thrown into a haystack, envy.

When Amanda Vincent from the University of Montreal McGill began to study seahorses in the late eighties, she was annoyed: "At first I could not even notice these subchikov." Masters of mimicry, in a moment of danger they change their color, repeating the color of surrounding objects. Therefore, they are easily mistaken for algae. Many seahorses, like gutta-percha pups, even know how to change their body shape. They appear small growths and nodules. Some seahorses can hardly be distinguished from corals.

This plastic, this “color music” of the body helps them not only fool enemies, but also seduce partners. German zoologist Ryu-diger Verhasselt shares his observations: “I had a pink-red male in my aquarium. I planted a bright yellow female in red speck to him. The male began to look after the brand new fish and after a few days he turned the same color as she - even red specks appeared. ”

To watch the enthusiastic pantomimes and colorful confessions, one must go under water early in the morning Only at dawn dusk (though sometimes at sunset) do seahorses scatter in pairs along the underwater thickets of algae, this sea jungle. In their confessions, they follow a funny etiquette: they nod their heads, greeting their girlfriend, while clinging their tail to neighboring plants. Sometimes they freeze, drawing closer in a "kiss." Or whirl in a stormy love dance, and the males inflate the stomach every now and then.

The date is over - and the fish are scattered to the sides. Adieu! See you next time! Seahorses usually live in monogamous couples, loving each other to the grave, which often happens in the form of nets. After the death of a partner, half of him is bored, but after a few days or weeks he finds a roommate again. Seahorses settled in the aquarium are particularly affected by the loss of a partner. And it happens that they die one after another, unable to bear grief.

What is the secret of such affection? In soulmates? This is how biologists explain it: regularly walking and caressing with each other, seahorses synchronize their biological clocks. This helps them to choose the most suitable moment for procreation. Then their meeting is delayed for several hours, or even days. They glow with excitement and spin in a dance in which, as we recall, the males inflate their stomach. It turns out that on the male’s stomach there is a wide fold where the female lays eggs.

Surprisingly, the male carries offspring in seahorses, having previously fertilized eggs in the abdominal bag.

But such behavior is not as exotic as it might seem. Other fish species are also known, for example, cichlids, in which males breed eggs. But only in seahorses we are dealing with a process similar to pregnancy. The tissue on the inside of the brood bag in the male thickens, as in the uterus of mammals. This tissue becomes a kind of placenta; she connects the father’s body with the embryos and nourishes them. This process is controlled by the hormone prolactin, which stimulates lactation in humans - the formation of breast milk.

With the onset of pregnancy, walks in underwater forests cease. The male is kept on a plot of about one square meter. In order not to compete with him in obtaining food, the female delicately swims to the side.

After a month and a half, "birth" occurs. The seahorse is pressed against the stalk of the algae and again inflates the stomach. Sometimes the whole day passes until the first fry slip out of the bag. Then the cubs will start to be selected in pairs, faster and faster, and soon the bag will expand so that dozens of fry will swim out of it at the same time. The number of newborns in different species is different: some seahorses bring up to 1600 babies, while others only two fry are born.

Sometimes the "birth" is so difficult that the males die of exhaustion. In addition, if for some reason the embryos die, then the male carrying them will die.

Evolution cannot explain the origin of the reproductive functions of a seahorse. The whole child-bearing process is too “unorthodox". And in fact, the structure of the seahorse is a mystery, if you try to explain it as a result of evolution. As a prominent specialist said several years ago: “With respect to evolution, the seahorse is in the same category as the platypus. Since it is a mystery that confuses and destroys all theories trying to explain the origin of this fish! Recognize the Divine Creator, and everything is explicable. ”

What do seahorses do if they don't flirt and expect offspring? One thing is certain: they do not shine with success in swimming, which is not surprising under their constitution. At them; there are only three small fins: the dorsal helps to swim forward, and two branchial fins maintain vertical balance and serve as a rudder. In a moment of danger, seahorses can speed up their movement for a short while, swinging their fins up to 35 times per second (some scientists even call the figure “70”). Much better they succeed in vertical maneuvers. Changing the volume of the swim bladder, these fish move up and down in a spiral.

However, most of the time the seahorse hangs motionless in the water, with its tail catching on algae, coral, or even a congener’s neck. It feels like he's ready to hang out idle all day. However, with apparent laziness, he manages to catch a lot of prey - tiny crustaceans and fry. Only recently have we been able to observe how this happens.

The seahorse does not rush for prey, but waits until she herself swims up to him. Then he draws water into himself, swallowing the careless small fry. Everything happens so quickly that you cannot notice it with a simple eye. However, scuba diving enthusiasts say that when you get closer to the seahorse you sometimes hear smacking. The appetite of this fish is amazing: as soon as it was born, the seahorse manages to swallow about four thousand miniature shrimps in the first ten hours of life.

In total, he is destined to live, with any luck, four to five years. Enough time to leave behind millions of descendants. With such numbers, seahorses seem to be prosperous. However, it is not. Out of a thousand fry, only two survive on average. All others themselves fall into someone's mouth. However, in this whirlwind of birth and death, seahorses have been afloat for forty million years. Only human intervention can destroy this species.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, the number of seahorses is rapidly declining. Thirty species of these fish are listed in the Red Book, that is, almost all species known to science. Guilty of this is primarily ecology. The oceans are turning into a worldwide dump. Its inhabitants degenerate and die out.

Half a century ago, the Chesapeake Bay - a narrow, long bay off the coast of the US states of Maryland and Virginia (its length reaches 270 kilometers) - was considered a real paradise for seahorses. Now you can hardly find them there. According to Alison Scarrat, director of the Baltimore National Aquarium, over the past half century, ninety percent of the algae have died in the bay, and this is caused by water pollution. But algae were the natural habitat of seahorses.

Another reason for the decline is the massive capture of seahorses off the coast of Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and the Philippines. According to Amanda Vincent, at least 26 million of these fish are caught each year. A small part of them then gets into aquariums, and most die. For example, souvenirs — brooches, key rings, belt buckles — are made from these cute fishes. By the way, for the sake of beauty, the tail is bent back to them, giving the body the shape of the letter S.

However, most of the captured seahorses — estimated by the World Wide Fund for Nature, about twenty million — go to pharmacists in China, Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia, and Singapore. The largest transshipment point for the sale of this "medical raw materials" is Hong Kong. From here it is sold to more than thirty countries, including India and Australia. Here, a kilogram of seahorses costs about 1300 dollars.

Of these dried fish, crushed and mixed with other substances, for example with the bark of trees, drugs are prepared that are as popular in Japan, Korea, and China as ours are aspirin or analgin. They help with asthma, cough, headache, and especially with impotence. Recently, this Far Eastern “Viagra” has become popular in Europe.

However, even ancient authors knew that medicines could be prepared from seahorses. So, Pliny the Elder (24-79) wrote that when hair loss is necessary to use an ointment made from a mixture of dried seahorses, marjoram oil, tar and lard. In 1754, the English magazine Gentlemen’s Magazine advised nursing mothers to take an extract from seahorses “for a better flow of milk.” Of course, old recipes can cause a smile, but now the World Health Organization is conducting a study of the "healing properties of seahorse."

Meanwhile, Amanda Vincent and a number of biologists are in favor of completely banning uncontrolled fishing and trade in seahorses, trying to end predatory fishing, as was done in the past with whaling. The situation is that in Asia, seahorses are mainly caught by poachers. To end this, the researcher created the Project Seahorse organization in 1986, which is trying to protect seahorses in Vietnam, Hong Kong and the Philippines, as well as to establish a civilized trade in them. Especially successful things are on the Philippine island of Handayan.

Residents of the local village of Handumon have been hunting seahorses for centuries. However, in just ten years, from 1985 to 1995, their catches decreased by almost 70 percent. Therefore, the program of rescue of seahorses proposed by Amanda Vincent was almost the only hope for fishermen.

To begin with, it was decided to create a conservation area with a total area of \u200b\u200bthirty-three hectares, where fishing was completely prohibited. There, all seahorses were counted and even numbered, putting a collar on them. From time to time, divers looked into this water area and checked to see if the "lazy couch potatoes," seahorses, had sailed away from here.

We agreed that outside the conservation area they will not catch males with full brood bags. If they fell into the net, they were again thrown into the sea. In addition, environmentalists tried again to plant mangroves and underwater forests of algae - the natural shelter of these fish.

Since then, the numbers of seahorses and other fish in the vicinity of Hundumon have stabilized. Especially a lot of seahorses inhabit the conservation area. In turn, in other Filipino villages, making sure that the neighbors' affairs went smoothly, also follow this example. Three more protected areas have been created in which seahorses are bred.

They are also grown on special farms. However, there are problems. So, scientists do not yet know which diet is best for seahorses.

In some zoos - in Stuttgart, Berlin, Basel, as well as in the National Aquarium in Baltimore and in the California Aquarium, the breeding of these fish is successful. Perhaps they will be able to save.

In the seas washing Russia, there are only two types of seahorses (although the species diversity of the horses is great, there are 32 species of seahorses in different seas of the world). This is a Black Sea seahorse and a Japanese seahorse. The first lives in the Black and Azov Seas, and the second in the Japanese.

“Our” seahorses are small and do not have chic long outgrowths throughout the body, as, for example, in the raghorse that lives in warm seas and masquerades as thickets of sargasso algae. Their carapace modestly performs a protective function: it is very strong and is usually painted in the background color.

In the seahorse the Creator’s plan is clearly and with all the obviousness. But the fossil record is another problem for those who believe in evolution. To uphold the idea that the sea horse has been a product of evolution for millions of years, proponents of this theory need fossils that show the gradual development of the lower life form of animals into a more complex form of seahorse. But, to the great regret of evolutionists, "no fossilized seahorses were found."

As with many creatures that fill the sea, heaven and land, for a seahorse there is no link that can connect it with any other life form. Like all the main types of living creatures, a complex seahorse was suddenly created, as Genesis tells us.

Among unusual fish, the seahorse is distinguished by its special eccentricity: it is difficult to recognize fish in it. Let's talk a little about seahorses - why are they not like their other brothers in the fish class?

Almost all fish swim the same way: the body is horizontal and in the direction of movement. In seahorses, the body is vertical when swimming, or tilted forward slightly. A strange way of arranging the body 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 less fins: they have only three fins that help them move in water:

• A very small fan-shaped dorsal fin is needed to move forward.
• Tiny pectoral fins help maintain vertical balance and control movement.

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

The swimming bladder is divided into two parts. The volume of the head of the bladder is noticeably larger than the abdominal. It is this structure of the swim bladder that contributes to the vertical position of the ridge when swimming. The seahorse is arranged like a float: the upper body is lighter than the lower. The center of gravity is shifted down - to the tail of the body, so the head was lighter and is up.

Reproduction: ritual morning greetings and discoloration of males

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

Before talking about reproduction, we must pay attention to the outer covers of the body of seahorses:

• The body of the seahorses is covered on top with bone plates that form a very strong spiny armor. This is a real carapace, which is difficult to break even in dead fish.
• The body of the female is completely covered with bone 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.

The reproduction of seahorses living in tropical seas has interesting behavioral features. Early in the morning, males make ritual greetings: each male swims around his chosen one, as if demonstrating a willingness to reproduce. It was noted that at these moments the shell of the male in the chest area is painted in dark color. With his head bowed, he moves in circles around the female, with his tail touching the bottom a little.

But what about the female? She reacts to this behavior of the male - begins to spin around herself after the male, but does not budge. In the breeding season, the greeting ritual is repeated every morning. Having completed this peculiar dance, the couple begins to “have breakfast”. Fish stay in a limited area and try to keep each other in sight. The closer the mating moment, the ritual of greeting becomes longer and can even last all day.

In temperate latitudes, males of sea horses during the breeding season inflate their leather bag so that the skin is very stretched and becomes almost white.

Mating and bearing

We continue to study the process of how seahorses breed, and how pairing occurs:

• For mating, it is necessary that the male and female mature at the same time.
• On the mating day, during the greeting ritual at some point, the female sharply raises her head and swims up.
• The male moves after her. At that moment, the female ovipositor is clearly visible in the female, and the bag is wide open in the male.
• The female directs the ovipositor into the wide opening of the bag and lays eggs there.
• The process of laying eggs takes place in several stages, each lasting several seconds. The female lays eggs until the bag is full (more than 600 eggs can fit in it).

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

Let's talk a little about seahorses - males:

• The male’s readiness for mating 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.
• A large number of blood vessels on the inside of the bag 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 bag is completely filled with a “priceless load”, the future daddy horse skates with an inflated pocket, looking like a unique “live 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 bag. Pushing the last cub, the daddy fish can sometimes experience very strong and tangible “labor pains”. Therefore, the appearance of babies in the world is a very exhausting process for the male.

Immediately after birth, the fry of seahorses become independent, because they do not receive any help from their parents. They immediately begin to eat after leaving the bag. Different behavioral strategies have different behaviors: fry of some species move with the current, others remain at the place of birth.

Are seahorses monogamous?

For a long time, it was believed that seahorses are monogamous - mating with one regular partner.

Probably, the first naturalists who observed this behavior in one or two species concluded that this is characteristic of all seahorses. Over time, observations by both amateur aquarists and ichthyologist scientists have proven that this is a myth. Seahorses are not monogamous at all.

British ichthyologists examined the sexual behavior of different types of seahorses and saw that individuals could “flirt” with 25 different partners during the day. For example, British spiky seahorses in only five pairs were true to each other, but twelve pairs were not.

In the home aquarium, there were also cases when the male took eggs from two females at the same time. It is likely that similar behavior during reproduction can be observed in nature as well.

Signs of courtship in seahorses are: color change, synchronized swimming, weaving tails.

Seahorses menu in nature and in the aquarium

What do seahorses eat in nature? Their food is the smallest zooplankton (crustaceans). By type of food, they are ambush predators:

• Having camouflage camouflage, with its tail caught on algae, the fish stands upright in the water and tracks the prey.
• Noticing the crustacean, the skate examines it for a couple of seconds, amusingly rolling his eyes.
• Then he swells his cheeks, so high pressure is created in his mouth.
• And immediately, like a vacuum cleaner, he draws a crustacean into his mouth and swallows it.
• Production can be drawn from a distance of 4 cm.

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

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

Seahorses are small sea fish ranging in size from 2 to 30 cm. They belong to the type of chordate animals, to the subtype of vertebrates, the superclass of fish to the class of bone fish and the subclass of ray-finned fish, to the order of spiny-like fish, to the needle family, and the genus of seahorses. The closest relatives of seahorses are sea needles, in which the male also carries the offspring.

Seahorses are currently on the verge of extinction. Many species are listed in the Red Book, for example, 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 led to their complete disappearance in the recreation areas of the Black Sea. And since 1994, the Black Sea population of this species is listed in the Red Book of Ukraine, and its capture is prohibited.

Children really like seahorses. Bookmark “Seahorse” with your child and, in the process of completing a creative assignment, study the features of the appearance of this amazing fish.

It is hard to believe, but in ancient times, seahorses were feared and considered chthonic creatures. The Chinese are sure that the skates return masculine power, and the Europeans decorate their aquariums with them.

Underwater chameleons

Unlike other inhabitants of the oceans and seas, seahorses swim in an upright position and in pairs, often tying their tails. At the same time, they like chameleons avoid a few enemies, imitating the color of underwater plants.

The latter property is due to the fact that seahorses are inept swimmers. They have a small fin on the back, making up to 35 movements per second, and pectoral fins, which are more correctly called rudders. And the dwarf seahorse is generally recognized as the slowest fish in the world. It moves at a speed of 1.5 meters per hour.

Good eaters

Seahorses have neither teeth nor stomach. Their digestive system resembles a ramjet engine, so they have to eat constantly so as not to die of hunger. As a rule, they cling to algae with their tenacious tails and absorb water at a distance of up to three centimeters, and along with it - simple food. Every day they consume three thousand or even more brine shrimp (planktonic organisms). They also love a tiny fish, carefully watching it. Interestingly, both eyes of the skates can look in different directions, studying the environment.

The next of kin is a needle fish

However, there are not so many people who want to feast on the seahorses themselves, except for penguins, crabs, tuna, stingrays and some of the very hungry predators. The thing is that seahorses are very poorly digested due to excessive bones. Their numerous long spikes and ribbon-like leathery outgrowths are also unpleasant for absorption. As genetic studies show, the ancestors of seahorses are the same needle-like ancestor from which the needle fish came from. The division into two species occurred approximately 23 million years ago.

Unstable

The greatest danger to seahorses is a strong pitching, leading to exhaustion and a complete loss of strength. They like calm and clear water. Interestingly, these fish are very stressed. In an unusual environment, they die quickly enough, even if they have food. That is why they do not take root well in aquariums. Interestingly, seahorses are monogamous, are faithful partners and do not separate from each other all their lives. After the death of one of them, the widow or widower grieves greatly, which can even cause death.

The choice is the lady

The male’s role in the choice of his half is secondary. The female herself decides who should pair her. Seeing a suitable candidate for a spouse, she feels his passion for three days. She weaves with him in a dance, and rises to the surface of the water in order to sink again to the bottom. In the literature, this phenomenon is described as a "predawn dance." This happens many times.

Among themselves, future partners exchange clicking signals. The male’s task is to keep up with the dancing girlfriend. If he does not succeed, the bride is looking for another groom. It is believed that this way the female checks the strength of the male. If the choice is made, then seahorses begin to mate.

Pregnant dad

Seahorses are faithful partners and do not part with each other all their lives. At the same time, the male himself bears his cubs, being the only creature on earth who has a so-called male pregnancy.

The mating dance lasts eight hours and is accompanied by a color change. In the process of mating, the female passes the eggs to the partner in a brood bag on his stomach. It is there that miniature seahorses are formed within 40-50 days. From 5 to 1500 fry can be born.

By the way, some scientists argue that the expression of a pregnant male is not true. The fact is that the duty of the "sea horse" is the protection of fertilized eggs. During this period, the female visits the male once a day for 6 minutes of “morning greeting”, and then swims away until the next morning. In captivity, this routine may be violated.

For health

Only one out of a hundred fry survive to adulthood. In fact, this indicator is one of the highest for fish. Recently, the greatest danger to seahorses has been posed by humans, in particular, about 20 million of these fish are caught annually by the Chinese for traditional medicine, primarily for the treatment of impotence.

It is also claimed that a decoction of them helps to overcome nocturnal enuresis. Seahorses sell an average of $ 600 to $ 3,000 per kilogram. There are times when these dried fish were exchanged for gold by weight one to one. In addition to the Chinese, Indonesians and Filipinos are also involved in catching seahorses. As a result of this, almost all types of seahorse are listed in the Red Book. And a species like Paradoxical Seahorse is considered extinct.