Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re talking about seahorses. Named because they are sea creatures bearing a head resembling a horse, seahorses are actually fish - though at one point in history they were thought to be marine insects! Their scientific name, Hippocampus, is actually the same name given to a part of our brains - a part that looks somewhat like one of these tiny fishes. There are currently about 50 described species of seahorses and they’re found throughout the world's temperate, subtropical, and tropical oceans - meaning they can tolerate cold water and they don’t just live in coral reefs.

While seahorses do enjoy spending their time in coral reefs, some species prefer seagrass beds or mangroves or even rocky shores. These little fish have prehensile tails that allow them to cling to a piece of kelp, coral, or rock. They do, however, tend to prefer coastal areas, with some species even tolerating the brackish water in rivers feeding into the ocean, but! Seahorses can also be found out at sea clinging to drifting vegetation or debris using their strong tails. It’s believed that seahorses were able to spread around the world because of this drifting.

Seahorses aren’t really great swimmers. Okay, that’s not entirely true. They’re not good at swimming far, or for long distances, but they’re excellent at maneuvering through dense vegetation or coral and rock formations. Seahorses have lost some of their fins including their tail fins, but they can still get around using the fins they have, and they do so with precision. They can also do this stealthily, which is important for catching their prey.

Seahorses utilize camouflage to hide from predators and to sneak up on prey. Not only are they able to change color in order to blend in with their environments, they can move their eyes independently, like a chameleon, in order to get a good idea of what’s around them without having to move their bodies at all. When they spot a morsel of food, which may be anything from small crustaceans to fish larvae, they’ll suck in really quick using their tubular snoot like a straw and eat their prey whole. As babies they may eat thousands of meals in a single day!

Seahorse babies are born from their father’s brood pouch. One of the most iconic and well known facts about seahorses are that the males give birth to the young. A female seahorse will deposit her eggs into her mate’s brood pouch, and leave him to take care of the eggs on his own. Though, to be fair, seahorses are generally considered monogamous, at least for a breeding season, and the pair often checks in with one another daily to make sure they’re both still alive. The male will keep the eggs safe as they develop for about two weeks at which point he’ll push them from his pouch so they can face the wide open ocean before them on their own. Smaller seahorses, such as pygmy seahorses who don’t even reach half an inch (12.7 millimeters) in length, may only live a single year, but larger seahorses, like the big-bellied seahorses who may be a foot (30.5 centimeters) long, may live to be half a decade old!

Previously we’ve discussed leafy seadragons who look similar to seahorses but who aren’t classified in the same genus as the fish we’re discussing today. Seahorses are also related to pipefish who kind of look like seahorses but in a more horizontal orientation. Seahorses are some of the only fish to swim vertically!

For more facts on seahorses, check out the links in the description. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.