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It might surpise you to know that a seahorse is a fish! It's a close relative to the pipefish. Together these aquatic creatures belong to the family Sygnathidae that includes 265 species. Seahorses are poor swimmers. They move in an up right position by vibrating their dorsal (back) and pectoral (front) fins. They are well protected from predators because they are perfectly camouflaged.

Another distinctive characteristic of these fishes are the males take care of the brood instead of the females. During mating, the female deposits 100 more eggs into the pouch on the males abdomen where they are fertilized. Newborn seahorses are known as sea ponies. They have to take care of themselves from the moment they leave their father's pouch.

Seahorses eat marine shrimp, small crustaceans, aquatic insects, and small worms. They are greedy feeders and will eat small jellyfish, sponges, or baby starfish. Sea horses enemies are mostly fish.

Common names: · H. ramulosus · H. hudsonius · Macleayina abdominalis · Hippocampus · H. zosterae · H. punctulatus

For more information, check out this web site at the Denver Zoo.