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Tag Archives: salt water

What the Heck is a Sea Horse?

Philippine Seahorse                                    American Press Travel News–11/20/17–“The Seahorse is the name given to 54 species of small marine fishes in the genus Hippocampus. “Hippocampus” comes from the Ancient Greek word hippos (ἵπποςhíppos) meaning “horse” and kampos (κάμποςkámpos) meaning “sea monster”. “The word “seahorse” can also be written as two separate words (sea horse), or hyphenated (sea-horse). Having a head and neck suggestive of a horse, seahorses also feature segmented bony armor, an upright posture and a curled prehensile tail. The above was from Wikipedia, below is from me:  They really are a fish, but their characteristics are weird. A horse-like head, a monkey like prehensile tail, a pouch like a Kangaroo, a bony exo-skeleton like insects, independently moving eyes like a lizard, etc. They are carnivores and like their cousins the Pipe fish, are the only critters where the males exclusively care for their eggs after fertilization and they bear their young. They taste bad and although they move rather slowly and are specialists in camoflage they are not gone after as food from bigger sea animals and fishes. Frankly, I, as so many aquarium enthusiasts are intrigued by these amazing animals.