Common Yellow Seahorse

Courting Common Seahorses

Hippocampus kuda

This seahorse is known as the common seahorse, yellow seahorse, spotted seahorse or estuary seahorse. This one was snapped at an aquatic exhibit on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

A fish without scales?! Yessireeeee.

This seahorse is a bony fish found in many areas all over the world, but is under threat by habitation loss. There are over 30 species of seahorse bobbing around protected shallow seas around this big ol’ earth. Some get reasonably big and some are super small. Some maintain fairly homely coloring only to get bright and flashy during unusual moments or in unfamiliar territory. Another big risk to their survival is their widespread use in Chinese medicine.

Seahorses, though fish, are positively awful swimmers. For that reason, they usually just hang out in grassy safe areas using their long snout to suck up food. And, just like the freakishly neat chameleons, seahorses can move their eyes independently. Ooh! Also, each seahorse has a coronet on top of its head that is unique just like a human’s fingerprint.

Bony Romance Under The Sea

Seahorses court in all sorts of romantic ways. An interested couple spends weeks wooing each other, even through distractions. They often dance around each other, promenade wrapping their tails around one another (see second pic!) or even hang on the same blade of grass for extended periods. When they finally mate, the female inserts her egg packets into a pouch on the male. He carries the babes until they mature and head off on their own. During gestation, she will visit him every morning for a bit of a.m. sweetness. It’s an unusual circumstance they evolved and it takes a great deal of energy from the male. However, once the babies are independently viable and start swimming about, the male contributes only about half as much to their care.

Last random tidbit – the mascot for the National Society for Epilepsy is a seahorse named Caesar (who was thought to be epileptic). The bony fish mascot was picked because the hippocampus (part of the brain to damage from the seizures) resembles a seahorse.