Seahorses

Let's Learn About Seahorses

Word of the Week

Prehensile

Prehensile describes the ability to grasp.


Seahorses use their prehensile tail to hold onto rocks and corals. Spider monkeys and chameleons also have prehensile tails. Elephants even have a prehensile nose - their trunk!

Fast Facts

Where do seahorses live?

Seahorses live in the ocean.


They live in warm, shallow habitats like coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangrove forests. They use their prehensile tail to hold themselves in place because they are poor swimmers.

What do seahorses eat?

Seahorses are carnivores. 


They feed on krill, small shrimp, and other animals floating through the water as plankton. They use their straw-like mouth to slurp up food.

What traits do seahorses share?

Seahorses are a genus of fish. They have many traits in common!

  • Seahorses have tall, upright bodies.
  • Seahorses have small fins. They are weak swimmers.
  • Seahorses use their prehensile tail to grasp onto rocks and coral.
  • Seahorses have skin stretched over bony plates instead of scales.

How many seahorses are there?

There are 46 seahorse species. At least six new species were discovered in the last 25 years.


While some seahorse species are common, many are endangered. They are threatened by habitat loss, pollution, and being accidentally caught as bycatch.

Species Spotlight

Pygmy Seahorses

Pygmy seahorses are the smallest seahorses in the world. Most pygmy seahorses measure less than one inch in length. Seahorses this small are hard to find and even harder to tell apart. Since 2000, six new species have been discovered.


While their small size makes them hard to spot, so does their incredible camouflage. Pygmy seahorses are usually found on fan corals. Their colors and patterns match so well that they are nearly impossible to spot. The first pygmy seahorses were discovered by accident. They were clinging to a fan coral being dissected in a lab. 


Pygmy seahorses are typically pink, orange, or purple. They are usually found hanging onto corals with the same color. This made scientists wonder if pygmy seahorses change color to match coral.


To test this, they collected two orange pygmy seahorses from the wild. After they reproduced, they placed their offspring in a tank with purple coral to see if they would develop an orange color like their parents or become purple like the coral. As they grew, they became purple instead of orange! This led scientists to believe that pygmy seahorses change their color to blend in with coral in their environment. Pygmy seahorses are a great example of how important camouflage is, especially for an animal smaller than a paperclip.

Conservation Corner

Bycatch

Because of their unique shape and bright colors, seahorses are some of the most well-loved fish in the sea. Some people collect seahorses to keep at aquariums or as pets. Unfortunately, seahorses are also caught by accident. Large nets used to catch fish in coral reefs and seagrass beds often catch seahorses, as well. When an animal accidentally gets caught by fishing nets, we call it bycatch. 


Bycatch threatens hundreds of ocean species, including seahorses, dolphins, sharks, and more. Fishing gear is designed to catch many fish at a time. The large nets have small holes to prevent animals from escaping. The nets often catch any animal in their path, even animals they do not mean to catch.


Animals caught as bycatch can be released, but many don't survive. Seahorses often die when caught because they are small and delicate. 

 

You can help seahorses and other ocean animals by carefully selecting seafood when shopping. Research restaurants and grocery stores to see where their seafood is caught and what fishing methods they use. Make sure to buy seafood from companies that catch fish sustainably, or in ways minimizing bycatch. Learn more about sustainable seafood below.

Seafood Watch

Seahorses Stand Out

Determine which traits make seahorses stand out by dragging each trait to the correct box.

Seahorses Stand Out Printable

Seahorse Challenge

Learn More!

Glossary

Adaptation

The process by which a species becomes more fit for its environment over the course of several generations. It is a result of natural selection.

Aquarium Trade

The buying, selling, and shipping of ocean animals for public or personal aquarium tanks.

Brood Pouch

[Of seahorses] A pouch on the abdomen of male seahorses use to fertilize and protect eggs as they develop.

Bycatch

Animals caught accidentally during commercial fishing.

Camouflage

The ability for an organism to blend into their surroundings usually to hide from prey or predators.

Carnivore

An animal that primarily eats meat.

Courtship

Behaviors of wild animals used to attract mates.

Coral Reef

An ocean habitat made of many individual corals typically found in warm, shallow waters.

Fish

A group of ectothermic (cold-blooded) animals that live primarily or entirely in water, have fins instead of limbs, and breathe using gills.

Gills

The respiratory organ that allows fish, amphibians in their larval phase, and crustaceans to absorb oxygen molecules from water.

Habitat Loss

When habitats are destroyed and changed into human-managed land such as farms or cities.

Monogamous

Having only one mate during the breeding season.

Plankton

Free-floating (often microscopic) organisms in the ocean or other bodies of water.

Predator

An animal that hunts other animals for food.

Prehensile

The ability to grasp.

Prey

An animal that is hunted and eaten by another animal.

Scales

The small, hard structures protecting the skin of fish, reptiles, and other animals.

Species

A closely related group of animals with similar characteristics that are capable of reproducing (example: tigers).

Syngnathid

The family of fish including seahorses, pipefish, and seadragons.

Tropical

A region near the equator that has warm temperatures year round.

Vertebrate

An animal that has a backbone.

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