@seahorse @HelloSeahorseOficial

SeahorseSea Animal

Seahorse is the name given to 45 species of small marine fish in the genus Hippocampus. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek hippokampos, itself from hippos meaning "horse" and kampos meaning "sea monster".

Scientific name: Hippocampus

Class: Actinopterygii

Phylum: Chordata

Family: Syngnathidae

Kingdom: Animalia

Rank: Genus

Sea horse, (genus Hippocampus), any of about 36 species of marine fishes allied to pipefishes in the family Syngnathidae (order Gasterosteiformes).

Sea horses are found in shallow coastal waters in latitudes from about 52° N to 45° S. Their habitats include coral reefs, mangroves, sea grass beds, and estuaries. They are unique in appearance, with their horselike head, prehensile tail, independently moving eyes, and brood pouch.

They have long, tubular snouts and small, toothless mouths. Their bodies are covered with consecutive rings of bony plates. The name of the genus that contains sea horses is taken from the Greek words hippos (meaning “horse”) and kampos (meaning “sea monster”).

Sea horses are rather immobile, swimming more slowly than other fishes. When swimming they maintain a vertical position and propel themselves forward using a soft-rayed dorsal fin. They use pectoral fins located on the side of the head to maneuver.

Some scientists contend that this upright swimming posture evolved shortly after the expansion of sea grasses in the western Pacific roughly 25 million years ago.

These plants provided sea horses with useful hiding places to avoid enemies and to capture unsuspecting prey, and ancestors of the sea horse evolved to maximize the opportunities offered by this new habitat.

Biology Of Seahorse
Habital

Seahorses are mainly found in shallow tropical and temperate salt water throughout the world, from about 45°S to 45°N. They live in sheltered areas such as seagrass beds, estuaries, coral reefs, and mangroves.

Four species are found in Pacific waters from North America to South America. In the Atlantic, Hippocampus erectus ranges from Nova Scotia to Uruguay. H. zosterae, known as the dwarf seahorse, is found in the Bahamas.

Colonies have been found in European waters such as the Thames Estuary.

Three species live in the Mediterranean Sea: H. guttulatus (the long-snouted seahorse), H. hippocampus (the short-snouted seahorse), and H. fuscus (the sea pony).

These species form territories; males stay within 1 m2 (10 sq ft) of habitat, while females range over about one hundred times that.

Evolution and fossil record
Anatomical evidence, supported by molecular, physical, and genetic evidence, demonstrates that seahorses are highly modified pipefish. The fossil record of seahorses, however, is very sparse.

The best known and best studied fossils are specimens of Hippocampus guttulatus (though literature more commonly refers to them under the synonym of H. ramulosus), from the Marecchia River formation of Rimini Province, Italy, dating back to the Lower Pliocene, about 3 million years ago.

The earliest known seahorse fossils are of two pipefish-like species, H. sarmaticus and H. slovenicus, from the coprolitic horizon of Tunjice Hills, a middle Miocene lagerstätte in Slovenia dating back about 13 million years.

Molecular dating finds that pipefish and seahorses diverged during the Late Oligocene. This has led to speculation that seahorses evolved in response to large areas of shallow water, newly created as the result of tectonic events.

The shallow water would have allowed the expansion of seagrass habitats that selected for the camouflage offered by the seahorses' upright posture.

These tectonic changes occurred in the western Pacific Ocean, pointing to an origin there, with molecular data suggesting two later, separate invasions of the Atlantic Ocean. In 2016, a study published in Nature found the seahorse genome to be the most rapidly evolving fish genome studied so far.

Courtship
Before breeding, seahorses may court for several days. Scientists believe the courtship behavior synchronizes the animals' movements and reproductive states, so that the male can receive the eggs when the female is ready to deposit them.

During this time, they may change color, swim side by side holding tails or grip the same strand of sea grass with their tails, and wheel around in unison in what is known as a "predawn dance".

They eventually engage in a "true courtship dance" lasting about 8 hours, during which the male pumps water through the egg pouch on his trunk which expands and opens to display its emptiness.

When the female's eggs reach maturity, she and her mate let go of any anchors and drift upward snout-to-snout, out of the sea grass, often spiraling as they rise.

They interact for about 6 minutes, reminiscent of courtship. The female then swims away until the next morning, and the male returns to sucking up food through his snout.