Did You Know?

A seahorse seems impossible. It seems unlikely to really be real.

Like a unicorn, fairy or dragon, the seahorse has been so legendary, and throughout time in cultures across the globe, have inspired so many incredible medical remedies, art, literature and myths, that it seems too hard to believe that a seahorse lives, day in and day out, right alongside every other normal thing on the planet. Yet, although the seahorse seems like the embodiment of obscurity, magical and mysterious in its underwater existence, it is as real as you and I.

Here are ten fascinating facts about this obscure creature of the sea that will surprise you.

1. NO STOMACH

A seahorse has no stomach. Seahorses eat a tremendous amount of food because they have to be constantly eating to survive, being stomach-less. Adult seahorses eat 30-50 meals per day. They eat tiny crustaceans, shrimp and even guppies. They have to spend much of their time seeking food.

2. NO TEETH

Even though they’re primarily carnivores, they have no teeth and must suck in the food and swallow it whole. They have long snouts that they use like vacuum cleaners. They also eat seaweed and algae.

3. COLOR SHIFTING AND SHAPE-SHIFTING

Seahorses can change colors to camouflage into the environment, or to impress another seahorse during courtship. Even more remarkably, some seahorses can change their shapes. The mossy seahorse, Hippocampus Japonicus lives in weedy terrain, and can grow long trailing seaweed-resembling tresses or short filaments on its body like moss. If a seahorse is put into an aquarium where camouflage is not necessary, the camouflage will vanish. The pygmy seahorse, Hippocampus Bargibanti, develops knobby growths that match the coral on which it lives, in shape as well as in color.

4. MONOGAMOUS MATES

Most species of seahorses mate for life, with just one other seahorse. Their courtship lasts for days and looks like a beautiful, magical dance. The female meets the male in his own tiny territory (about .5 square meter) and she changes color as he changes his color. They sometimes spiral around an object as they dance.

5. PREGNANT, CANNIBAL DADS

Female seahorses deposit about 1000 unfertilized eggs into the male. Then, the male discharges sperm into his pouch to fertilize the eggs. Of the deposited eggs, after 20-45 days, hundreds will usually be born. Contractions can last twelve hours. After the birthing, the father will often eat some of his young.

6. SIZES

How big or small do you imagine seahorses in your mind? Seahorse species’ sizes range from the huge, fat-cat-sized, Hippocampus abdominalis, aka the pot-bellied seahorse-- 1 foot, 2 inches (35 cm) long, to one that’s smaller than your smallest fingernail from tip to tail, the Hippocampus satomiae, which is just 13.8 mm long (less than half an inch).

7. LOCATIONS

The largest seahorse, the pot-bellied seahorse dwells in the waters near New Zealand and Australia. The tiny Hippocampus satomiae, was discovered relatively recently, in 2008, near Indonesia’s Derawan Island. They live not only in hot, tropical waters, but also in frigid European coastlines.

8. OPEN EYED SLEEP

Some seahorses are nocturnal, others are diurnal. But all seahorses sleep with their eyes open since they have no eyelids. Their eyes work independently from one other to allow seahorses to be alert from predators. To avoid drifting away while resting, they cling onto corals, grasses, reeds, and other seahorses.

9. SLOW

The dwarf seahorse, Hippocampus zosterae, can only swim 5 feet per hour (1.5 meters). For this, it won a Guiness Book of World Records spot as world’s slowest fish.

10. SEAHORSES ARE FISH

Maybe the most confusing thing about seahorses is that they are fish! Seahorses breathe through gills, swim with fins and live underwater. But unlike fish, seahorses have exoskeletons. They also live up and down, with a vertical body axis, unlike the horizonally-oriented fish. Seahorse also have very long tails, like snakes. These tails are useful for gripping things, like monkeys do. Without the prehensile tail, by which the seahorse holds on to the grasses or coral or plants near the shore, a seahorse would be lost at sea.

Now you can share these ten obscure, wonderful facts about the magical seahorse, nature’s remarkable, inspiring symbol of uniqueness and mystery.