To tell the truth, I forgot about the existence of seahorses for years. Like various mythical creatures, they appear in children's books and cartoons, and kids tend to take some things for granted. Like, what's so particularly strange about a fish that has a horse's head, looks nothing like a fish and swims upright? So anyway, the seahorse didn't intrude upon my adult life until I found myself staring at a menu decorated with a simple seahorse graphic. Now there's a funny thing, I thought, I'd forgotten all about them, what's that all about?
Not that I'm an expert on them now, far from it, but I did find out a thing or two.
Like, did you know that the seahorse is the only animal where the male gets pregnant and gives birth? No, really. More on that later.
Depending on species, seahorses vary in size from less than 1cm to over 30cm. They have swivelly, independently-moving eyes which allow them to spot their prey, mostly brine shrimp. They don't have stomachs, so they have to eat thousands of them every day to make up for their inefficient digestive system.
They tend to loiter in weedbeds by wrapping their prehensile tails around the plant stems.
Like some other aquatic creatures, they are masters of camouflage, changing their colours to suit their background, and their moods.
Another remarkable thing is that they lead exclusively monogamous lives - every morning each couple perform a colour-changing greeting dance, reaffirming their bond, before going about their business for the day. Isn't that sweet?
But what about this new-man male pregnancy thing? Surely, if one of the couple gets pregnant and gives birth, then that's the female? Apparently not. During mating, the female deposits her eggs into the male's "brood pouch", where he fertilises them (don't ask me for exact details!) and keeps them until they are ready to hatch.
And so, a few weeks later the male gives birth to dozens of tiny baby seahorses.
Amazing, and another Animal We Like.
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Nicole Hammond
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