WHALE SHARK

Rhincodon typus

WHALE SHARK CLASSIFICATION

Kingdom Animalia (animals) Phylum Chordata SubPhylum Vertebrata (vertebrates) Class Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) Subclass Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) Order Orectolobiformes Family Rhincodontidae Genus Rhincodon Species typus

The whale shark is a the biggest shark and the biggest fish. It is NOT a whale. It has a huge mouth which can be up to 4 feet (1.4 m) wide. Its mouth is at the very front of its head (not on the underside of the head like in most sharks). It has a wide, flat head, a rounded snout, small eyes, 5 very large gill slits, 2 dorsal fins (on its back) and 2 pectoral fins (on its sides). The spiracle (a vestigial first gill slit used for breathing when the shark is resting on the sea floor) is located just behind the shark's eye. Its tail has a top fin much larger than the lower fin.

The whale shark has distinctive light-yellow markings (random stripes and dots) on its very thick dark gray skin. Its skin is up to 4 inches (10 cm) thick. There are three prominent ridges running along each side of the shark's body.

This enormous shark is a filter feeder and sieves enormous amounts of plankton to eat through its gills as it swims.

The whale shark is up to 46 feet (14 m), weighing up to 15 tons. The average size is 25 feet (7.6 m) long It is the largest fish in the world. Females are larger than males (like most sharks).

TEETH
Whale sharks have about 3,000 very tiny teeth but they are of little use. Whale sharks are filter feeders who sieve their tiny food through their large gills.

DIET AND FEEDING HABITS
The whale shark is a filter feeder that sieves small animals from the water. As it swims with its mouth open, it sucks masses of water filled with prey into its mouth and through spongy tissue between its 5 large gill arches. After closing its mouth, the shark uses gills rakers that filter the nourishment from the water. Anything that doesn't pass through the gills is eaten. Gill rakers are bristly structures (the thousands of bristles are about 4 inches or 10 cm long) in the shark's mouth that trap the small organisms which the shark then swallows. The water is expelled through the sharks 5 pairs of gill slits. The prey includes plankton, krill, small fish, and squid. The shark can process over 1500 gallons (6000 liters) of water each hour.

SOCIAL GROUPS
Whale sharks are solitary creatures. Groups of whale sharks have only rarely been seen.

HABITAT
Whale sharks live in warm water (near the equator) both along the coast and in the open seas. They spend most of their time near the surface.

DISTRIBUTION
Whale sharks are found worldwide in the warm oceans from the equator to about ±30-40° latitude. They are not, however, found in the Mediterranean Sea.

SWIMMING
Whale sharks are slow swimmers, going no more than 3 mph (5 kph). They swim by moving their entire bodies from side to side (not just their tails, like some other sharks do).

REPRODUCTION
The Whale shark was long thought to be oviparous (an egg 14 inches (36 cm) long was found in the Gulf of Mexico in 1953; this would be the largest egg in the world). Recently, pregnant females have been found containing hundreds of pups, so, Whale sharks are vivparous, giving birth to live young. Newborns are over 2 feet (60 cm) long.

Whale sharks are sexually mature at 30 years old. This is the age at which they are able to mate and reproduce.

WHALE SHARK ATTACKS
Whale sharks are harmless to people and usually indifferent to divers.

LIFE SPAN
It has been estimated that whale sharks may live up to 100 - 150 years.

Are Whale Sharks Protected?

The Whale Shark is a protected species and is on the Endangered list. Allegedly Whale Sharks are still hunted for their dorsal fins in the Far East but due to International awareness, this will hopefully be stopped or at least minimised as much as possible with effective policing.

Spiny dogfish ( Squalus acanthias )

The spiny dogfish is a small schooling shark that forms groups of hundreds or thousands of individuals of the same sex and size. This shark is gray or brownish on top and pale gray or white on its ventral side with irregular white spots on the top or sides of the body. The average length is between 75 and 105 cm (30 to 40 inches), however individuals have been known to grow to 130 cm (50 inches) weighing 9 kg (20lbs). The second dorsal fin is smaller than the first and both fins have spines at their origin. The caudal fin is asymmetrical with the upper lobe being larger. The smooth edged short and oblique teeth are similar in both the upper and lower jaw. The spiny dogfish has an estimated life span of 25 to 30 years.
Tagging studies have determined that the spiny dogfish migrates great distances. Individuals tagged off of Newfoundland have been recovered in Iceland years later. There have also been records of transatlantic crossings. However the bulk of the population migrates seasonally along the northeastern coast of North America.

Diet

The spiny dogfish is an opportunistic feeder eating whatever prey is abundant. In general their diet is comprised of small fishes such as capelin, cod, haddock, hake, herring, menhaden and ratfish. They also eat invertebrates such as krill, crabs, polychaete worms, jellyfish, ctenophores, amphipods, squid and octopus.

Reproduction

Development in this shark is ovoviviparous. The gestation length is the longest known for sharks at an estimated 22 months. Young are born in the warmer waters off of North Carolina or New England during the winter months. The number of young born in a litter is dependant on the size of the female, larger females bearing more pups. However most litters are between 2 and 16 individuals that are approximately 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 inches) in length. Sexual maturity in males is reached at a size of 80 to 100 cm (31 to 39 inches) at which time they are usually 11 years of age. Females reach sexual maturity at a later age, between 18 and 21 years at which time they are between 100 and 124 cm (39 to 49 inches) long.

Habitat

The spiny dogfish is found in cold and warm temperate oceans at temperatures between 6 and 15 degrees Celsius. However on the Scotian Shelf this shark has been caught in water temperature between 3 and 11 degrees Celsius. The spiny dogfish is tolerant of a wide range of salinities and can be found in estuaries. It can be located in the water column from the surface to depths of 730 meters (2,400 feet).

Range

This shark is present in all of the worlds temperate oceans It ranges throughout the coastal waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The spiny dogfish is a seasonal migrant into Canadian waters. In June these sharks appear off Nova Scotia, in the Bay of Fundy and off southwestern Newfoundland. By July they move into the Gulf of St. Lawrence and into waters off of southern Labrador and around the rest of Newfoundland. By late fall most of the spiny dogfish migrate out of Canadian waters and move south to waters off of North Carolina or New England.

Distinguishing Characteristics

• No anal fin
• Spines in front of each dorsal fin
• Irregular white spots present on sides and back of the body
• Strongly oblique teeth in both jaws, with single cusp
• No subterminal notch on caudal fin
• Pectoral fins with curved rear margins
• Narrow anterior nasal flap

Some Pictures of Shark

There are over 350 different species of sharks. The spiny dogfish shark is the most common shark.




Great White Shark, also known as white pointer and white death, considered the most dangerous of the sharks. The great white shark has a conical instead of flattened snout, black eyes, and large, serrated, arrowhead-shaped teeth. The upper and lower lobes of the tail are almost equal in size, and the body is blue- or brown-gray, not white, except on the underside.

It has attacked many swimmers in the tropical seas on which it lives.

They swiftly attacks its prey from below taking a bite and letting the victim bleed to death. It uses its very excellent sense of smell to locate its prey (especially of blood) and has the ability to sense "electrical charges" given off by muscle movements.

The largest shark is the whale shark, which can grow up to 15-18m (50-60ft) long - longer than five Minis bumper to bumper. The whale shark is quite harmless, except perhaps to the tiny plankton it feeds on. The largest shark is the whale shark, which can grow up to 15-18m (50-60ft) long - longer than five Minis bumper to bumper. The whale shark is quite harmless, except perhaps to the tiny plankton it feeds on.

More Facts about Shark

Evolution of Shark
Sharks have existed for over 350 million years. They evolved over 100 million years before the dinosaurs did. This was long before people evolved. Most fossil evidence of early sharks is from fossilized teeth and a few skin impressions. Cladodonts, primitive sharks, had double-pointed teeth, were up to 3 feet (1 m) long fish-eaters and lived about 400 million years ago (mya).

MIGRATION OF SHARKS
There are three different types of sharks when it come to migratory patterns:

• Local sharks - these sharks do not migrate, and range only about a hundred miles from their habitat. Examples include the bonnethead shark, and the nurse shark.
• Coastal pelagic sharks - these sharks can migrate over 1,000 miles (1,600 km). Examples include the dusky shark, the blacktip sharks, the tiger shark, and the sandbar shark.
• Highly pelagic sharks - these sharks migrate across oceans. Examples include the blue shark and the mako.

Extinct Shark
Megalodon ( Carcharodon megalodon ) was an ancient meat-eating shark, living between 25-1.6 million years ago; it is extinct. It was over 40 feet (12 m) long, but this is only an estimate from fossil teeth that have been found. Its teeth resemble those of the great white shark but are almost 3 times larger; these teeth are each the size of a person's hand!


Endangered and Protected Shark
The largest sharks are decreasing in numbers around the world because of being hunted by people. The Great white shark, the Basking shark and the Whale shark are all waning. The Great white is protected along the coast of California and South Africa. Shark fossils are rare because sharks have no bones, only cartilage, which does not fossilize well. Fossilized shark teeth are very hard and fossilize well.

Shark

Sharks are amazing fish that have been around since long before the dinosaurs existed. They live in waters all over the world, in every ocean, and even in some rivers and lakes.

Unlike bony fish, sharks have no bones; their skeleton is made of cartilage, which is a tough, fibrous substance, not nearly as hard as bone. Sharks also have no swim bladder (unlike bony fish).

SIZE
There are many different species of sharks that range in size from the size of a person's hand to bigger than a bus. Fully-grown sharks range in size from 7 inches (18 cm) long (the Spined Pygmy shark), up to 50 feet (15 m) long (the Whale shark). Most sharks are intermediate in size, and are about the same size as people, 5-7 feet (1.5-2.1 m) long. Half of the 368 shark species are under 39 inches (1 m) long.

BODY SHAPES Sharks have a variety of body shapes. Most sharks have streamlined, torpedo-shaped bodies that glide easily through the water. Some bottom-dwelling sharks (e.g. the angelshark) have flattened bodies that allow them to hide in the sand of the ocean bed. Some sharks have an elongated body shape (e.g.,cookiecutter sharks and wobbegongs). Sawsharks have elongated snouts,thresher sharks have a tremendously elongated upper tail fin which they use to stun prey, and hammerheads have extraordinarily wide heads. The goblin shark has a large, pointed protuberance on its head; its purpose is unknown.

VARIETIES OF SHARKS

There are about 368 different species of sharks, which are divided into30 families. These different families of sharks are very different in the way they look, live, and eat. They have different shapes, sizes, color, fins, teeth, habitat, diet, personality, method of reproduction, and other attributes. Some types of shark are very rare (like the great white shark and the megamouth) and some are quite common (like the dogfish shark and bull shark). Sharks belong to the group of cartilagenous fish, the Elasmobranchii, that includes the sharks,rays and skates.

SKELETON
Sharks are a type of fish that have no bones, only cartilage. Some parts of their skeleton, like their vertebrae, are calcified. Cartilage, a strong fibrous substance, is softer than bone; our nose and ears are made of cartilage.

Sharks belong to the group of fishes called Elasmobranchii, which also includes the rays, skates and and ratfish. The Elasmobranchii are all fish that have no bones, only cartilage.

TEETH
Sharks may have up to 3,000 teeth at one time. Most sharks do not chew their food, but gulp it down whole it in large pieces. The teeth are arranged in rows; when one tooth is damaged or lost, it is replaced by another. Most sharks have about 5 rows of teeth at any time. The front set is the largest and does most of the work.

DIET
Sharks vary greatly in their diets, but they are all carnivores.

• Some (like the great white, mako, tiger and hammerhead) are swift predators that eat fish, squid, other sharks, and marine mammals.
• Some (like the zebra horn shark, angelshark, and wobbegong) are slow-swimming predators that crush and eat shellfish (crabs and clams) from the ocean floor.
• Others (like the whale shark, the basking shark, and the megamouth) are filter feeders that sieve tiny bits of plankton and small animals from the water as they swim with open mouths. They eat huge amounts of these tiny animals and plants.

HABITAT
Sharks live in oceans and seas all over the world, and even in some rivers and lakes, especially in warmer waters. Some sharks live near the surface, some live deep in the water, and others live on or near the ocean floor. Pelagic sharks (living in the open ocean) include the great white shark, the basking shark, etc. Benthic sharks (living at the ocean floor) include the zebra horn shark, the wobbegongs, and the angelshark, which usually have flattened, camouflaged bodies that let them hide in the sea bed. Some sharks even venture many miles up into the fresh water of rivers like the Mississippi in the USA and the Amazon in Brazil. The bull shark( Carcharhinus leucas) sometimes ventures into fresh water.

Some sharks live in relatively warm waters (hammerheads,bull sharks, and tiger sharks). Other sharks, such as the thresher, mako, basking and blue shark, live in temperate water (which is neither hot nor cold). Others, including the dogfish, Greenland, and goblin, live in cool waters. Some sharks stay in the same region their entire lives while others travel across oceans.

Sea Monkeys

Sea-Monkeys are a true miracle of nature. They exist in suspended animation inside their tiny eggs for many years. The instant-life crystals, in which the eggs are enclosed, preserve their viability and help to extend still further their un-hatched life span! Sea-Monkeys are real Time-Travelers asleep in biological time capsules for their strange journey into the future!

Scientists call this amazing rare process "cryptobiosis" which means, "hidden life". Among the types of life on Earth that are cryptobiotic in early stages of development are the seeds of higher plants (wheat grains from the tombs of the ancient Egyptian Kings have sprouted after being sealed in urns for more than 2,000 years), the larvae of certain insects, and the thick-shelled eggs of some crustaceans such as Daphnia, seed Shrimps (Ostracods) and Brine Shrimp (Artemia salina). Sea-Monkeys too belong in this category, since they are a variety of Artemia. A relative of Lobsters, Crabs, Fairy Shrimp and other crustaceans, instead of originating in the ocean, Artemia are found in salt lakes and salt evaporation flats. The waters of these areas are often so salty that Artemia may be the only non-microscopic animal inhabiting them.

What are Sea Monkeys?

Sea Monkeys are a type of brine shrimp, and a member of the animal family Crustacea, which also includes crabs and lobsters. All crustaceans have a hard shell (known as an exoskeleton) that provides their bodies with support, the way our bones help us keep our shapes. Having a hard shell is great when you�re a small creature in a big ocean! It makes it more difficult for animals to eat the Sea Monkey and get to its gooey parts inside. But there�s a big problem. As the Sea Monkey grows bigger inside the shell, the shell stays the same size. So it needs to shed its shell, but this exposes its soft bodies to the outside world. It�s a perfect time for predators to eat them! So they want to grow that shell quickly. Once the shell grows back, larger and harder, they are protected until the next time they need to grow bigger!

Are Sea Monkeys Brine Shrimp?

Because fish eat and thrive on brine shrimp, for years they were collected as eggs or alive, to be sold as an aquarium "food." Although all along, brine shrimp had the very qualities that would, at a later date, make them one of the most desirable pets ever sold, it simply never "dawned" on anyone to consider them as anything other "fish food". Now, thanks to Sea-Monkeys, this attitude has changed.

Although Sea-Monkeys are a species of brine shrimp, they are unique. We not only unlocked the most elusive secrets of their life cycle, we created new formulas to keep them alive under conditions found in the average home�an accomplishment never before achieved! Finally, after years of crossbreeding, we developed a hybrid. These amazing new hybrids grow larger and live longer than any "natural" variety of brine shrimp.

How long do Sea-Monkeys live?

Thanks to new computer-driven processing technologies and ultra-pure, non-toxic chemicals, twice as many Sea-Monkeys instantly hatch, grow larger and live longer than ever before.

An exact, pre-blended formula of "magic crystals"�and live Sea-Monkey eggs are inside the envelopes supplied in every Sea-Monkey kit. When added to water, live Sea-Monkeys will hatch. That's why anyone can get perfect results without any knowledge of chemistry or biology. Just by following the easy instructions you create Instant Life! The only "extra" is the water. At birth, the Sea-Monkeys are very tiny, no larger than the "period " at the end of this sentence. That is why it's possible to "overlook" them when they are first born. Since their fate is in yours hands, do not discard the formula if you don't see them right away. To do so would be like "throwing the baby out with the bath water."

Are Sea-Monkeys safe?
Sea-Monkeys are in no way harmful to humans or the environment. If they somehow find their way into natural waterways or sewer lines, they simply will not be able to survive outside of the formula.

Sea Monkeys are Better than fish and more loyal than dogs.

How do I know ehen they are grown?

Did you know that when Sea Monkeys are born, they have three eyes! And as they get older and closer to adulthood, they lose that middle eye! (And you'd think that something like that would come in handy!) This is one way to tell when they are full-grown, although it is hard to see the third eye. There are other, easier ways to tell when Sea Monkeys are mature. First, they grow bigger, up to 3/4 of an inch long! Second, the males will grow pincers under their chins. Third, you will see an egg sac on the stomach of the female. And finally they will have moulted their shells quite a number of times. If you look on the bottom of the tank, you might see some black things that look like Sea Monkeys. These are discarded shells. Can you tell when they are moulting? It's hard, but if you watch carefully, you may see them shedding their shells!

Weedy Sea Dragons

Scientific Name : Phyllopteryx taeniolatus

Weedy Seadragons are only found in southern Australian waters, usually ranging from Geraldton WA, to Port Stephens NSW and down around Tasmania. They are weird and mystical looking, not quite seahorse, not quite fish. The Weedy Seadragon is closely related to the seahorse, being a member of the Syngnathidae family. Their habitat is listed as moderately to sub maximally exposed reefs between 1-50m. In Sydney have a number of dive sites where seadragons are spotted on almost every dive.

Weedy Seadragons can grow to about 46cm in length. They are orange/red in colour with numerous whitish spots on a lot of their body and along their tube shaped snout. The seadragon also have bluish purple stripes and some yellow markings along their bodies as well. They have leaf like appendages and a few short spines occurring along their body. The seadragon camouflage is quite good and they do resemble seaweed floating on the bottom of the sea floor. Unless you know what you are looking for seadragons can be easily overlooked. Once you have found a few of these creatures it becomes easier to spot them.

Weedy Seadragons usually have a single brood of eggs per season, but if conditions are favourable they have been known to have two broods in one season. They usually breed in spring, however several males weedy seadragon have been spotted in Sydney recently with eggs. Prior to mating the male prepares the area of his tail where he will keep the eggs. This area becomes slightly swollen, soft and spongy. The female actually pushes the eggs onto the males tail. Once on his tail they are fertilised. The male carries anything from 120 to 300 eggs on his tail. He carries the eggs for about 2 months and then the eggs hatch over a period of 6 days. According to Rudie Kuiter in Under Southern Seas, the hatchlings are quite large when born ranging fm 2.5cm-3.5cm in length and still have a yolk sac attached to them, which supports them for two days while their snout grows. Once their snout is grown they can begin to feed. Juveniles can double in length in one week and can reach 15cm by the end of 14 weeks. Some baby weedy seadragons (about 7cms) have been spotted recently on some of our dives at Kurnell.

The seadragons diet mainly consists of sea lice and other small crustaceans. They seem to suck their prey straight into the snout! There is much concern for the future of the Weedy Seadragon and others in their family. They are threatened by habitat destruction, and potentially by the aquarium trade. Currently seadragons are protected under fisheries legislation federally and in most states where they occur, it is illegal to take or export them without a permit.

When diving with these beautiful creatures remember not to touch them, be happy to look and photograph the seadragon without harassing them.

LEAFY SEA DRAGON

SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION

COMMON NAME:	leafy sea dragon
KINGDOM:	Animalia
PHYLUM:	Chordata
CLASS:	Osteichthyes
ORDER:	Syngnathiformes
FAMILY:	Syngnathidae
GENUS SPECIES:	Phycodurus eques

FAST FACTS

DESCRIPTION: Particularly well camouflaged with elaborate, ornate skin filaments that hang from the head, body and tail making this animal virtually indistinguishable from the floating sea weed in which it lives. Usually green to yellow in color. The body is covered in protective jointed plates instead of scales and long, sharp spines line its dorsal edge.

SIZE: Maximum length 35 cm

WEIGHT: No data

DIET: Mysids and amphipods

INCUBATION: 4-6 weeks

SEXUAL MATURITY: 2 years

LIFE SPAN: 2-3 years in aquaria. Unknown in the wild.

RANGE: South Australia on kelp reefs from 4-30 meters. Western Australia found deeper than 20 meters. Victoria found deeper than 30 meters.

HABITAT: Temperate waters over sand patches among kelp reefs and in protected coastal bays.

FUN FACTS

1.	The male sea dragon incubates the fertilized eggs in a specialized spongy textured brood patch on the ventral surface of his tail. This area is composed of small cup-like indentations which each hold a single egg layed there by the female. It is during the transfer of the eggs from the female to the male that they are fertilized. The approximately 250 eggs remain attached until they hatch 4 to 6 weeks later. Sea dragons are completely independent upon hatching. The young feed on the remaining yolk sac and then graduate to consuming zooplankton.
2.	Sea dragons do not have any predators. Their combination of excellent camouflage, tough jointed plates and sharp dorsal spines offer adequate protection. Researchers have even observed sea dragons curling up to present predators with the row of menacing spines.

Photographs of Seahorses

Family name

Syngnathidae
syn - together, with (Greek)
gnathos - jaw (Greek)
idae - suffix meaning that this a family name. All animal family names end in -idae. The family name refers to the tubular snout and small jaws of fishes in this family.

White's Seahorse , Hippocampus whitei

White's Seahorse , Hippocampus whitei

Yellow Oceanic Seahorse , Hippocampus Kuda

More Information about Seahorse

External Seahorse Anatomy

Orientation


The above picture shows the areas of a seahorse and the terms used to describe them. The front view of a seahorse, looking into its face or belly, is the ventral orientation. The view from behind the seahorse is its dorsal orientation. The side view, used here in the illustrations, is referred to as the lateral orientation. The lower parts, or the lower section of any parts, are called the posterior, and the upper parts, the anterior.

Sections and Measurements


The sections of a seahorse are the head, trunk and tail. The length of a specimen is measured from the first trunk ring to the tip of the tail, or the combined trunk and tail lengths. The head is measured from the tip of the snout to just before the first trunk ring. Snout measurement is made from the tip of the snout to the gill opening.

The depth of the chest is measured from the superior trunk ridge to the keel.

Parts of the Body


Trunk rings, one of the features used to determine the species of the seahorse, are counted from the first (the uppermost ring seen from the dorsal view) to the ring immediately above the anal fin.

Trunk ridges are the vertical spines running down the back of the seahorse from trunk to tip of tail (the superior trunk ridge), the spine running down each side of the seahorse trunk (the lateral trunk ridge), and the spine running along each side of the keel from neck to anal fin (the inferior trunk ridge).

The seahorse's means of propulsion are its pectoral fin, located just behind the gill opening, and its dorsal fin, which joins the trunk at the tail.

Tail rings are counted from the ring just below the anal fin to the ring before the tip of the tail.

Parts of the Head
Features of the head are illustrated at the right. The coronet can be low and fairly smooth, on some species, to tall with pronounced points on others. Eye, nose, and cheek spines also differ in length from species to species, and within a species, from specimen to specimen.

All seahorses have independently orbital eyes, and a pair of pectoral fins immediately behind the gill opening.

Some species of seahorses have spindly appendages, called cirri, in the area of the facial spines and trunk ridges.

Sexual Characteristics

The external anatomy of female and male seahorses differ, a characteristic that is called sexual dimorphism. On the female seahorse, the lower abdomen joins the tail at a sharp angle and her anal fin is often higher and slightly larger.

On males, a brood pouch is found beneath the anal fin, and when empty, tapers gradually to the tail. During courting or when pregnant, the pouch is very pronounced and protruding. It features a vertical opening into which the female deposits her eggs, and from which fry emerge after gestation.

Seahorses Reproduction

Keeping male and female seahorses in a tank they will soon start courting. In the morning and in the evening the couple does a round through the tank holding each other with the end of their tales. Their bodies are in form of a "V" as they swim through the tank, remaining for a while at different waypoints in order to examine their neighborhood in every detail.

While these behavior rituals seem to be of absolute priority for the male seahorses, female seahorses are substantially fewer concentrated and let themselves be easily diverted by other attractions (especially food). In such cases occasionally a kind of punishment of the female takes place, as the male snatches at the head of the female for disciplining, which probably might be rather painful. The same aggressive reaction is to be determined, if the female seahorse approaches another male.

With the fidelity seahorses in tanks do not take it as strict as seahorses in nature, where the partnership lasts as long as their life. Keeping one male and several females in a tank, the male changes its partner again and again (in extreme cases almost daily). If there are several couples in a tank, one can observe stable linkages over a long time. After the death of the partner the surviving seahorse usually chooses a new partner, but sometimes it also dies within a few days. If no suitable partner of the same type is available, the seahorse looks around for a seahorse of another species.

Seahorses mate during the full moon. They normally go through a series of courtship rituals that lasts several days before they mate. The courtship ritual involves such things as color changes and synchronized swimming. The female makes between 200 - 600 eggs, which are a pinkish color. The size of the eggs varies from .5 to 1.5 millimeters, depending on the species. The female then deposits them in the males' brood pouch where he fertilizes them and lets them grow. The developing embryos are oxygenated and maintained for 3 - 6 weeks. When the male gives birth, he may actually experience birth pain. When they hatch, the baby sea ponies are about 1 centimeter long. When the baby seahorses are born, they must fend for themselves because the male will not care for them.

Seahorses - Mating
Before the actual mating the male seahorse offers its waterfilled-breeding bag over hours to the female again and again. It opens the input of the pouch extremely wide by a special movement. The female seahorse "docks" with the mid part of its body to the opening of the males pouch and fills in orange colored eggs. Subsequently the male seahorse then sways the body in order to distribute the eggs in the pouch.

In seahorses pregnancy happens to the male animals. Within two or three weeks between 50 and 1.500 seahorse babies develop inside the males pouch, which are finally living born.

Frequently not all of the babies will dismiss at one time from the pouch, but in several phases over some minutes or hours, in extreme cases it takes even one or two days. Several males die a few days after birth of the ponies because of remaining dead babies in the pouch resulting in putrefaction and bacterial infection.

Many pregnancies can occur consecutively, whereby the duration of pregnancy is 2 to 5 weeks with an average of 2 to 3 weeks. In addition, it seems that there are months-long infertile periods. There are also "false pregnancies", the males pouch seems to be filled to the maximum for a few days and suddenly is of normal constitution again. Mating does not only occur between seahorses of the same species, but also between different species.

Seahorses - The young infant
Seahorse babies in the moment of birth are only a few millimeters in size, but they already look like real seahorses. Instantly they curiously explore their new habitat. If you do not catch the small animals out of the tank, you usually won't see anything of them the following day. The size of the newborn seahorses varies significantly, whereby particularly small fry has almost no chance of survival.

The new generation grows up really slow during the first weeks of their life. These differences seem to be in direct relationship with the individual skill of catching food. After 5 months their size is approximately 3 inch (tank conditions), after 8 months approx. 5 inch. The size of adult H. reidi is about 6 to 8 inch.

The maximum life expectancy of seahorses in nature is up to four years (depending on species), whereby sexual maturity already occurs at the age of 6 months.

Seahorses Information III

Seahorses - Friendliness
Seahorses can become very friendly. Some of them eat out of the keepers hand and grab his fingers as he is doing some work in the tank. The affinity of seahorses to objects not available in nature is interesting.

Seahorses - Motion
Using their tails they will snag seaweed hanging on while they drift along in the ocean. This method enables the tiny seahorse to cover vast distances across the ocean floor as they search for food.

Seahorses and other pipefish are able to move through the water using the distinctive motions of their dorsal and anal fins. Typically with bony fish a swimming motion is used that occurs with the undulation of the body but this rarely occurs with the seahorse. In most cases this body unification is only when they are forced to flee quickly from a predator. Even though the seahorses is generally holding on to plant forms they can also swim up and down in vertically and even in spiral motions. Their greatest speeds are produced when they are lying on their back swimming horizontally while extending their tail to maintain their equilibrium.

Seahorses - Economical and Biological Uses
The trade of seahorses is legal. But if we are not careful, then we could push this amazing creature into extinction. The Chinese, Indonesians and Central Filipinos use sea horses in their medicines as cures for illnesses, as aphrodisiacs and as food. Medicinal purposes for seahorses include using them as "cures" for asthma, arteriosclerosis, incontinence and impotence, thyroid disorders, skin ailments, broken bones and heart disease. Some areas even use seahorses as an aid in childbirth. The price of dried seahorses can fetch up to US $550 a pound! The use of sea horses in aquariums, especially in North America, is also steadily growing but many populations are now coming from seahorse farms. Their inshore habitats are also being destroyed which in turn destroys them. Water pollution is also aiding in the destruction of these wondrous creatures.

Seahorses are being over collected. Please help preservation efforts and don't use them in aquariums. Reports indicate for example, that the Hippocampus population in the central Philippines have diminished by 70% between 1985 and 1995! Thousands of seahorses are imported to Europe, the United States and Japan as pets for aquariums.

Dried seahorses are often offered as souvenirs. However the biggest consumer is traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean medicine. Dried seahorses are used to "cure" a wide range of illnesses such as asthma, arteriosclerosis skin diseases but most important sexual dysfunction. The annual consumption by Asians nations of dried seahorses has been estimated at 45 tons (= ca. 16 mill. individuals!).

Information about Seahorses II

Ecology and range Seahorses inhabit coral reefs and sea grass beds. Some inhabit brackish or freshwater habitat. They prefer sheltered areas and are well camouflaged. They are found all over the world. Seahorses are usually spotted in tropical, subtropical and temperate ocean waters although some species have been found that have penetrated into the northern regions. The seahorse is most often found in algae colonies or coastal seaweed since the species tends to prefer shallow waters that have a muddy floor rich in plant growth or near reefs.

Seahorses - Behavior

Seahorses swim upright with their tails down and their heads up. They feed on small crustaceans employing a sit and wait strategy, remaining stationary and snapping prey that comes near. With their tube like mouth they create a vacuum that draws their prey into the mouth.

Each one of the special features plays an important role in the life of a sea horse. The seahorse has the eyes of a lizard, which mean one eye looks left while the other eye looks right. Both eyes do not look ahead like our eyes do. This unique ability allows the seahorse to look for enemies with one eye while searching for food with the other eye. It is also believed that with this binocular vision seahorses have, they can see their microscopic prey.

The sea horse relies on its ability to camouflage itself for protection against predators like large fish, birds, crabs and sea turtles. With its camouflaging ability, it can change colors in the blink of an eye. Seahorses are capable of rapid color transformations to blend with their surroundings. While mating they change colors either lightening or darkening their skin. Seahorses are monogamous and during the mating period they engage in a lengthy courtship. The male seahorse carries the eggs in a brood pouch where they are fertilized and incubated until they hatch.

Seahorses sit for hours in front of or beneath live rocks and stick their snout into each hole and crack. They pursue booty only rarely but wait patiently for the fodder coming along. Besides they get on other seahorses nerves by permanently hanging on them and only hardly been shaken off. Seahorses get rid of their excrements in an elegant way by doing a 360degrees turn around the horizontal axis like a dancer.

Seahorses - Food
Seahorses eat by a quite special snatch-sucking movement of their snout. This suction movement is so strong that a clearly audible noise develops and even for fodder, which exceeds the snout diameter by far (for example large ghost shrimp), is easily torn and in-sucked.

Immediately after aspirating the booty food remainders withdraw in form of a breath-fine nebula cloud from the sides of the seahorses head, it seems as if its head steams. Before a seahorse catches its food however, time goes by. The seahorse watches its potential booty quite exactly. Already a few days old babies look exactly at each piece of plankton or brine shrimp before the suck it. But if the animals made however only once their choice and the booty tries to escape, the otherwise so leisurely coming along seahorses transform suddenly into fast and agile floats chasing the potential food until they catch it.

Picture above: Called an Ornate pipefish, this three to four-inch (7-10 cm) specimen is as cryptic as most of its sea dragon and seahorse cousins. Along the flat dorsal trunk are numerous yellow plates with wing-like extensions. Also contributing to the unusually creative disguise are various other small, circular designs which blend well with the surrounding reef features, such as the purple-colored encrusting corals.

Seahorse and other pipefish are known to feed on water fleas, small crustaceans, cyclopids, small fishes and other organisms. A large amount of food is required for this tiny creature whose eyes move independently and protrude so they can easily watch their prey without moving their body or head. When their prey is close the seahorse will slowly bring their snout near the prey before quickly sucking in the prey with a crackling sound. The sound and suction are created when the hybrid arch is retracted and the lower mouth drops down to enlarge the mouth cavity.

Information about Seahorse I

Picture above: Lined Seahorse, Hippocampus erectus

The beautiful colored seahorses belong to the most magnificent and most remarkable organisms of the seas. Actually a seahorse is quite normal fish, coming along only in a very special dress. There are about 35 different species of seahorses spread all over the world, but only a small spectrum of this variety is frequently imported for aquarist purposes. Seahorses are vertebrate fish. Technically, their taxanomic classification is the Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Chordata, Sub-phylum Vertebrata, Class Osteichthyes and Order Perciformes. They belong to the family Syngnathidae (syn - together or with [Greek] and gnathos - jaw [Greek]) that includes seadragons, pipefishes and pipehorses. Seahorses make up the genus Hippocampus (hippo - horse [Greek] and campos - sea animal [Greek]).




Physical Characteristics
They all range in size from 6-12 inches although most fall in the 6-inch category. The color range of sea horses is enormous. They can be white, yellow, red, brown, black, gray, spotted or banded. Sea horses are pieced together with many different parts and abilities of other animals. They have the head of a horse with the snout of an aardvark, spines like a puffer fish, a pouch of a kangaroo, eyes like a lizards, the tail of a monkey, an armor plated body like Stegosaurus, the ability to change colors like a chameleon and to wrap their tails around things.

The tube-shaped snout lent to the sea horse by the aardvark is its mouth. It is made of an upper and lower jaw, both of which are toothless! The seahorse opens and closes its jaw in a rapid snapping movement while lowering the floor of its mouth to increase volume. The snout is designed to suck up microscopic animals that live in the water. These animals include small crustaceans, brine shrimp, plankton, worms and other invertebrates. Seahorses usually ambush these microscopic animals as they swim past. The bony plate of armor that Stegosaurus loaned the seahorse covers its entire body. This suit of armor consists of many bony plates that interlock throughout the seahorses' body that are arranged into "rings". Each species has a distinct number of rings but that number varies between different members of the Hippocampus family.

The spines of the puffer fish mark the joints where the armor interlocks. These two features provide the seahorse with protection from predators but also limit their flexibility. The prehensile monkeys tail also provides a very important function in the every day life of a sea horse. Anybody who has ever been in the ocean knows that there is a strong undercurrent or under toe that can be very overwhelming. So they are not swept away by this current, sea horses wrap their tales around coral, sea grass or any other convenient object on the ocean floor.

Because sea horses wear such heavy armor, they are very poor swimmers. They spend most of the day resting by anchoring themselves with their tail. They have no caudal or tailfin like all other fishes does. When they do swim, they majestically glide through the water without any visible effort. This is because they have a transparent fin on their back, called a dorsal fin that beats 20-30 times per second, so fast we can't see it! The dorsal fin moves the seahorse forward. The pectoral fin controls which way the seahorse is going to turn. When they do swim, it is in an up and down fashion. They regulate whether then swim up or down by controlling the volume of gas in their bodies.

The center of the body of the seahorse has three pairs of lateral ridges with one ridge along the stomach area. Its long, tubular mouth opening has no teeth and although there is no fore covering over the gills, this fish does have small round gill openings.

Facts about Frogs

• Frogs absorb water through their skin so they don't need to drink.

• Frogs can lay as many as 4,000 eggs in frogspawn.

• The eyes and nose of a frog are on top of its head so it can breathe and see when most of its body is under the water.

• Frogs need both water and land to live.

• A frog can change the color of its skin depending on its surroundings.

• Frogs have long back legs and webbed feet for jumping and swimming.

• Certain frogs can jump up to 20 times their own body length in a single leap.

• Frogs usually eat meat (bugs and worms) and swallow their food whole.

• The world's biggest frog is the goliath frog from Cameroon in West Africa. Their body can be one-foot long.

• The smallest frogs in the world are less than half-an-inch long.

• The eggs of the marsupial frog are laid in a brood pouch on the mothers back and the young hatch out in a zipper-like fashion from the pouch.

• In the Seychelles, there is a male frog that carries its young around on its back until they become adults.

• Research has shown that Ammonium Nitrate (a fertilizer) can cause agonizing death for frogs. This fertilizer is spread on fields in the spring when frogs are migrating. Frogs suffer a massive toxic attack if they come in contact with it.

• Asian tree frogs build nests in trees over water so when their tadpoles hatch, they drop directly into the water.

• People who study frogs and toads are called herpetologists. Herpetology is the study of amphibians and reptiles.

• Frog bones form a new ring every year when the frog is hibernating, just like trees do. Scientists can count these rings to discover the age of the frog.

• The wax frog retains moisture in dry weather by producing wax from its skin and coating itself in it.

• Because frogs come out in the rain, people used to think that they fell to earth in the rain! And in nineteenth century England, people tried catching them to prove it.

• One type of desert frog can wait as long as seven years for water by surrounding itself in a type of transparent bag that becomes its first meal once the rain comes.

• Amphibians' eyes come in all shapes and sizes. Some even have square or heart shaped pupils. But amphibians don't see color -- they only see in black or white.

• A frog's skin reflects the same amount of ultraviolet light as its immediate surroundings. This way it can protect itself from predators like snakes.

• The golden dart frog is the most poisonous frog on earth and the skin of one frog could kill up to 1,000 people.

• In recent years, a painkiller with 200 times the power of morphine has been found in the skin of a frog.

• Some frogs can survive in conditions well below freezing. The Grey Tree Frog. for example, can survive even though its heart stops. It does this by making its own antifreeze, which stops its body from freezing completely.

• The male Darwins Frog takes its mate's eggs into its mouth as soon as they show signs of life and they stay there until they emerge as fully grown froglets.

• Frogs cannot live in the sea or any salt water.

• There are more than 4,000 types of amphibians in the world, but Europe has very few--only 45 species.

• Many of the most brightly colored tropical frogs are colored in this way to warn predators that they are poisonous.