Maintenance of seahorses. The seahorse is an incredible creature. Description and photo of a seahorse. Reproduction: ritual morning greetings and male color change

The message about the seahorse can be used in preparation for the lesson. The story about the seahorse for children can be supplemented with interesting facts.

Seahorse Report

Seahorses belong to the class bony fish. In total there are about 50 species. Sizes of seahorses can be from 2 to 30 cm, depending on the species. A typical seahorse can live up to 5 years.

Their body shape is similar to a chess piece of a horse. Numerous long spikes and tape-like leathery outgrowths located on the body of the seahorse make it invisible among algae and inaccessible to predators.

The habitat of seahorses is tropical and subtropical seas.

Seahorse Description

The head of these fish looks like a horse, but there are no scales. Their body is covered with hard bony plates. With its tail bent forward, the monkey-like seahorse clings to the stalks of sea grass. The eyes of the seahorse rotate in any direction, and if one eye looks to the right, the other at this time may stare at something to the left. This is very convenient for the skate, as it can simultaneously inspect the algae from all sides in search of food and follow the enemies, who themselves are not averse to having lunch with them.

The seahorse does not like to swim and spends most of its life clinging to algae with its tail. It swims slowly and only in search of food, during the wedding and escaping from enemies.

It is interesting to watch how the seahorse swims. A large swim bladder located in the head of the skate helps it to maintain an upright position. It does not move horizontally, but jerks up and down, moving diagonally in the direction of the target.

What do seahorses eat?

Seahorses lead a benthic lifestyle, feeding on plankton and small invertebrates.

seahorse breeding

Also, these animals unusual way breeding. When the eggs reach the desired stage, the females begin to compete with each other for male attention. Having achieved location, the female lays part of the eggs in a special bag, which is located on the male's abdomen. There, the eggs are fertilized. The male carries the eggs until the young are born. They can be from 2 to 1000 individuals. If many cubs are born, their father may even die. During the breeding season, the fry hatch every 4 weeks. Immediately after birth, they are left to their own devices.

Interesting facts about seahorses

• The horse is very bony, so it is only hunted by the large land crab, which can digest it.
• The eyes of seahorses are similar to those of chameleons and can move independently of each other;
• The seahorse is a master of disguise. Their scales can become "invisible" - merge with the environment;
• Their mouth works like a vacuum cleaner - they suck up plankton to eat.

We hope that the above information about the seahorse has helped you. And you can leave your report about the seahorse through the comment form.

Seahorses are very peculiar fish with an outstanding appearance and interesting biology. They belong to the needle family of the order Kolushkoiformes. Such an affiliation is not accidental, because seahorses, one might say, are brothers of others. interesting fish — sea ​​needles. In total, 50 species of seahorses are known, several of the most large species called sea dragons.

Herbal sea ​​Dragon, or rag-picker (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus).

The appearance of seahorses is so unusual that at first glance it is difficult to recognize them as fish. The body of the skates is intricately curved, the back sticks out like a hump, the abdomen also protrudes forward, the front part of the body is thin and curved like the neck of a horse (hence the name). The head is small, its anterior part is elongated with a tube, the eyes are bulging. The tail of seahorses is long and very flexible; in a calm state, the fish twist it into a ring or twist the stems around their tail. aquatic plants. The body of the skates is covered with various thickenings, bumps, outgrowths and similar decorations. The color of these fish is often of the same color, but different species are colored very differently. In any case, the coloring of each species very accurately imitates the color and texture of the surface on which this skate lives. Skates living among aquatic plants are often brown, yellowish, green; seahorses living among corals can be red, bright yellow, purple.

Seahorses are masters of the art of camouflage.

In addition, each fish can change its shade to some extent. Seahorses are small fish, ranging in size from 2 to 20 cm.

Most small view- the pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus bargibanti) is only 2 cm long. It is completely indistinguishable from coral branches.

These fish live in the seas of tropical and subtropical zones. Their range covers the entire Earth. Seahorses live in shallow waters among seaweed beds or among corals. These are sedentary and generally very inactive fish. Typically, seahorses wrap their tail around a twig of coral or a tuft of seagrass and spend most of their time in this position. But large sea dragons do not know how to attach themselves to vegetation. For short distances they swim holding the body vertically, if they have to leave the "house", then they can swim in an almost horizontal position. They swim slowly. In general, the nature of these fish is surprisingly calm and meek, seahorses do not show aggression towards fellow tribesmen and other fish.

The intricately decorated leafy sea dragon (Phycodurus eques) is indistinguishable from its surroundings.

They feed on plankton. They track down the smallest crustaceans, rolling their eyes funny. As soon as the prey approaches the miniature hunter, the seahorse puffs out its cheeks, creating negative pressure in the oral cavity and sucks the crustacean like a vacuum cleaner. Despite the small size of the skates big lovers eat and can indulge in gluttony up to 10 hours a day.

Seahorses are monogamous fish, they live couples, but periodically can change partners. Characteristically, these fish bear eggs, with males and females changing roles. IN mating season in females, a tube-shaped ovipositor grows, and in the male, thickened folds in the tail area form a bag. Before spawning, partners perform a long mating dance.

A spawning pair of seahorses.

The female lays the eggs in the male's pouch and he incubates them for about 2 weeks. Newborn fry exit the pouch through a narrow opening. Sea dragons do not have a bag and carry eggs on the tail stalk. Fertility different types ranges from 5 to 1500 fry. Newborn fish are completely independent and move away from the parent pair.

Eggs on the tail of a sea dragon.

Currently, many species of seahorses have become very rare, and some are even on the verge of extinction. This is facilitated by the massive catch of these fish and their low fertility. Seahorses are caught for meat, which is used in cooking in eastern countries and in oriental medicine. In addition, souvenirs made from dried seahorses are very popular. Keeping seahorses in aquariums is not very easy, they are demanding on food and prone to disease, but it is very interesting to watch them.

Leafy sea dragon hatches eggs.

how a male seahorse gives birth to fry.

The unusual appearance of the seahorse makes it a popular inhabitant of aquariums. Its bizarre vertical shape and unusual mode of movement attract attention. But before you get such a pet, you should know the rules of care, the features of its behavior and coexistence with other inhabitants.

Habitat

Seahorses live in warm tropical and subtropical waters. Found off the coast of England. Some species live in the Black and Azov Seas.

They prefer salty and clean water, quiet calm backwaters. It is the sea waves and pitching that pose a great danger to such fish.

Description

This is a bony fish from the marine needle family.. Possesses vertical structure body, from 2 to 30 cm in height. Their body is covered with a hard bony shell. In females, the shell is solid, while in males, the shell is only on top, the lower part is not protected.

His head does not turn and is rigidly connected to the body, but his eyes can rotate 360 ​​°, and separately from each other, like a chameleon. And like chameleons they can change body color adapting to the environment.

This helps them hide from predators or when hunting for plankton. They spend their whole lives almost motionless, catching algae or corals with their tail.

Did you know? The seahorse has practically no natural enemies. Their body is so rigid that no one has the strength to gnaw through a fish. Only the big ones hunt them. land crabs that are able to digest it.

These fish have the simplest structure digestive system They don't have a stomach or teeth, so they're always eating. They lie in wait for their prey and suck up water along with plankton.

Before you start settling fish in an aquarium, you need to prepare a habitat for them:

• Aquarium preparation. It is best to prepare a new one, with a wall height of 50-60 cm and a volume of 60-70 liters per individual.

• Aquarium decor. Quartz sand or special soil for reef aquariums is used as a substrate. Both live and artificial brown are planted in it. Decorative stones, driftwood, artificial racks are placed. All this will allow animals to cling to their tails and hunt. Worth considering quiet places, grottoes where skaters can rest.
• Water preparation. Water should be clean, filtered, salty. Water temperature all year round should be 23-24°C. Therefore, in summer it is worth taking care of cooling, and in winter - about heating the aquarium.
• Lighting. Skates do not tolerate bright light. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust this issue if you plan to combine ordinary reef fish, corals and skates.

• Filtration. The water in the aquarium should be clean and not very fast flowing, 10 revolutions of the total volume of water per hour is enough. A good set for such an aquarium will be a skimmer and a pump. The skimmer will filter the water, collect sewage and feces, saturate the water with oxygen, and the pump will create an optimum flow rate.

Important! The aquarium should not contain any potentially dangerous items for skates that could injure or harm them. Including stinging corals and anemones.

The aquarium is now ready to move in.

Skates are monogamous, the loss of a partner often ends in death for them, so they should be bought and populated in pairs.

Feeding

The process of feeding skates is different from feeding other fish.

Captive-bred fish will happily accept frozen Mysis, while sea-caught skates will refuse them and will only eat live food. Since the extraction of live food is associated with some troubles, it is worth accustoming skates to thawed and dry food.

Pipit can eat dry fish food, pounded to desired state. Over time, a colony of living creatures and mysids can form in the aquarium, on which skates will hunt with pleasure.

Also, do not feed the fish exclusively with brine shrimp - they lack important substances, as well as low nutritional value.

The food should always be fresh, and feeding daily. One individual eats 6-7 shrimps at one meal. They are fed three to four times a day.

There are two ways to feed:

1. From hands. Feed is given with the help of hands or a rubber douche. The method is slow, it will take 15-20 minutes to slowly feed one portion, but it is suitable as fun.

2. Feeders. Seashells, stones with notches, glass saucers and containers are suitable as a feeder. Feed is placed in these feeders, the fish swim up and eat at a convenient time for them.

First, you need to feed the fish - with the help of a syringe, lower the shrimp several times into the feeder and the skates will figure out where and when to swim for food.

Install several sticks near the feeder - the skates will cling to them with their tails while eating.

Compatibility with other inhabitants

Due to its leisurely behavior, the seahorse will not be able to get along with every aquarium inhabitant. They are slow, prone to stress, hard to accept changes.

It is often even recommended to keep a separate aquarium just for skates. There is quite a lot of truth in this advice, but with proper planning, it is quite possible to organize a well-functioning system from different types of fish, corals, shellfish.

Skates coexist well with:

• fish- blenny Synchiropus, scorpionfish, some cardinal fish and royal Gramm, small gobies. The main factor that makes it possible to determine a good neighbor is its low activity. Highly active fish will irritate the skates, suppress them, and take away food.

Important! First, you need to plant skates in an empty aquarium, and only after a few days, in small batches of selected neighbors.

Dangerous neighbors:

• fish- any large, active fish will irritate the skates and take away food from them;
• invertebrates - large crayfish, can attack skates and inflict wounds on them with their claws, sea anemones are able to sting with stinging cells;
• corals- almost all corals are bad neighbors, many species have stinging stinging cells, others require intense lighting. There are several types of corals that can be hooked, but if there is no complete certainty that this is the right coral, then it is better not to risk it and replace the live one with an artificial one.

Breeding

Breeding fish at home is an interesting activity, but it may not always work out. Need to create ideal conditions for each individual species.

Skates form pairs for a long time, it is not uncommon for one pair to hold on to each other all their lives. This is due to the peculiarities of their reproduction - males and females must achieve synchronism in their readiness to "become parents".

These fish reproduce differently than other animals. The key difference is that the male carries the fry. He has a special bag in his stomach where the female lays her eggs. Therefore, attention is sought not by the male, but by the female.

The beginning of the mating season of the fish is determined by the lunar cycle and the beginning of the ebb tide. It was then, with a strong current, that the fry are carried into the sea. The courtship begins with a courtship dance that begins at dawn.

It is started by the female, moving vertically in the water column, followed by the male. Gradually, the dance becomes more complicated, the animals begin to click. Synchronization is important in this dance, this is the secret of successful pairing of skates.

The female has an ovipositor and the male has a pouch where the female lays her eggs. In the bag, the eggs are fertilized, and the male bears them. The number of eggs depends on the type of animal and ranges from 60 to 1500.

Did you know? During mating games, skates not only dance, but also exchange« kisses» - touch« lips».

Pregnancy lasts 50-60 days, after which the male pushes the fry out of the bag. This is where care for the offspring ends, and the kids begin an independent life. Childbirth is quite difficult, they can last several days, and the risk of death of the male is high.

The percentage of survival of fry is quite small, out of a hundred born alive, 4-5 remain.

Diseases

Little is known about the diseases of these fish. They are affected by viral diseases, some protozoal and bacterial aeromonosis.

Infection can occur both from sick animals and contaminated decor that have fallen into the aquarium, and spontaneously, under the influence of stress.

A sick fish is removed from the main aquarium to a quarantine one. It should not contain living creatures and plants, only plastic algae and stones in which a sick animal can hide. The light in such an aquarium should be subdued, weaker than the main one.

Antibiotics ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol are used to treat bacteria.

As a preventive measure, you can take the following measures:

• quarantine all newly arrived skates for several days;
• when transplanting skates, treat them with anti-stress drugs;
• regularly inspect each fish, and if you notice spots, bubbles, whitening of body parts, wounds, other violations, immediately send it to quarantine;
• All decor must be cleaned and disinfected during installation.

In the absence of disease and good prevention, the average horse lives 3-4 years.

How to distinguish between female and male

It is not always easy to distinguish between a male and a female visually.

Their main features are:

• the female is completely covered with a bone shell, the lower part of the male is free;
• the male in the lower part of the body has a clearly visible bag in which he bears eggs.

The seahorse is a very curious pet. It is pleasant to watch him, it is interesting to feed him.

Hello, my dear young readers and wise parents! In the category "Projects" new topic! "ShkolaLa" helps to prepare a message about seahorse. Whatever class you are in elementary school, a report about this inhabitant of the sea will be an indispensable highlight in the lesson of the world around. Read on and you'll understand why.

Lesson plan:

What kind of animal is a seahorse?

This aquatic inhabitant with an outstanding appearance by no means looks like a fish. But in fact, it belongs to the needle-shaped fish family. Most of all, he looks like a chess piece, which is why he was probably so nicknamed.

The body is crocheted, the back is a hump, the abdomen is forward. Yes, and his head is that of a horse, and his mouth extended into a tube resembles a muzzle, and when he moves, he leans on a tail twisted into a ring.

Why not a horse in miniature!

This fish is also called a dragon, since many species really resemble this fairy tale character with their wings spread out to the sides, except that there are not three heads, but only one!

In total, there are up to 50 species of seahorses, the size of which can be up to 30 centimeters. But the smallest of them is dwarf, it is only 2 centimeters tall. Almost 30 species are listed in the Red Book.

This is interesting! Research scientists have proven that the closest relative of the seahorse is the needlefish, from which he separated as much as 23 million years ago! Today, numerous long spikes have been preserved from the progenitor of the fish.

Where can you see a seahorse? It lives in the tropics and subtropics. His home is a thicket of algae and Coral reefs Black Sea, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, coasts of Australia, Japanese yellow sea and Russian Azov.

This is interesting! Seahorses are great at playing hide-and-seek and master the art of camouflage to perfection. They have special cells - chromatophores, which color the horse under its environment. At the same time, you can see the water chameleon only by the nose sticking out of the algae.

Most often, miniature horses are brown, yellowish or green, but those that live among corals are red and purple. Like a Christmas tree toy hang in sea ​​depths oh, such little horses, clinging to the plants with their tail.

How do seahorses swim?

It is difficult to call a seahorse a fish also because it does not swim like everyone else. His body is located vertically in the water. The swim bladder, which runs along the body, helps him maintain balance. It is divided into two parts: the head is larger than the abdominal, so the skate swims upright.

By changing the volume of gas in the bubble, the fish runs, rising up, and also plunging to the depth. If something happens to the skate's bubble, he has no choice but to lie still until he dies.

This is interesting! Dwarf representatives are the slowest fish in the world. They move, as they say, "a teaspoon per hour" - only one and a half meters in 60 minutes.

The tail of the fish is very flexible and without fins, the seahorse uses it like an anchor, clinging to corals and plants. By the way, he can hug his girlfriend with them.

But it cannot row with its tail. To do this, there is a movable fin on the back and a pair of pectoral fins.

Given this structure, the seahorse swimmer is no good, and he strives to compete, spending most of his time in a hovering state, staring around.

What's on the Seahorse's Menu?

The water horse feeds on plankton - small crustaceans, which it hunts down, actively rotating its eyes. The tiny mouth of the fish is located at the end of the muzzle-tube.

As soon as the food approaches the little hunter, he puffs out his cheeks and, like a vacuum cleaner, strongly sucks the crustaceans.

This is interesting! These fish have no teeth or stomach. Their digestive organs are a direct-flow engine that constantly needs to be refueled.

Tiny horses can hang around waiting for food for up to 10 hours, they don’t even need to hunt much, sit in one place, and dinner floats by. Moreover, as we have already understood, he is no swimmer. So a lazy glutton eats up to 3.5 thousand crustaceans per day.

pregnant dads

Yes, we were not mistaken! This is just the only case when pregnancy is not women's business. In seahorses, males carry offspring! For this, the male has a bag on his abdomen that looks like a kangaroo, where eggs are laid.

Of these, after 40 days, up to 1,500 miniature seahorses appear.

This is interesting! Sea Horse- the only fish that has a neck.

But a frivolous mother all these days visits a friend only in the morning, carelessly sailing away after five minutes of a date until the next day on her own business. Or maybe just forget about it!

Even after birth, dad takes care of the offspring: at the first danger, he gives them a signal, and they instantly hide securely in his bag.

Do seahorses have enemies?

Although the body of a seahorse is covered with a hard bony shell and spikes, and the fish is too tough for most, it can be a dinner for crabs or rays.

However, the biggest danger for him is a person. The unique appearance of the fish and its beneficial features became the reason for the mass catch.

Seahorses are caught for souvenirs, for preparing expensive oriental dishes and for medical purposes.

This is interesting! When searching for food, as well as for vigilance, these fish manage to look with both eyes at the same time in different directions. And their organs of vision can look like this: one forward, and the other to control what is happening behind.

They try to keep exotic seahorses in aquariums, but they do not adapt well to the artificial environment. If nothing threatens the fish, then it can live up to 5 years.

This is how we briefly talked about amazing creature with the body of a horse, kangaroo pouch, spinning chameleon eyes and prehensile monkey tail.

I hope you will interest the whole class with your story. And for clarity, print out photos of these exotic fish or, if possible, show them this video. Let the guys see that they are really unique.

See you soon on the ShkolaLa blog and in the Projects section

Success in your studies!

Evgenia Klimkovich

The seahorse is an amazing and unusual representative of tropical waters. His appearance and some features of life differ from representatives marine environment. Among connoisseurs of such individuals, the question is common: a seahorse is a fish or an animal. The answer to it is simple - the individual belongs to the animal kingdom and the class of ray-finned fish. After many years of research, scientists have proven that the animal is a close relative of the needlefish.

The seahorse belongs to the animal kingdom and the class of ray-finned fish.

General information

Since the animal is considered a highly modified species of pipefish, it belongs to the order Needle-shaped. The unusual body of the skate really resembles a piece in chess. Perhaps this was the reason for giving the animal such a name.

IN natural environment you can meet the skate in subtropical and tropical waters around the world. Salty and maximum pure water - best condition for his comfortable stay. The size of the seahorse is small and ranges from 2 to 30-32 cm. It is quite rare to find individuals that reach 35 cm in length.

There are many theories about where the seahorse lives, since it was met in different parts of the world. Most often, the animal can be found in the waters of Australia, sometimes England. Sometimes individual species are found in the Azov and Black Seas. It prefers to stay close to the bottom and uses algae as cover, camouflaging themselves in their thickets and changing color according to what color they are.

The body of the fish is covered with a very hard and bony shell. which protects against negative influences environment. Often on the body there are spikes of different lengths and shapes, some are covered with long ribbon-like processes. different color. Surprisingly, this fish does not have scales. The head will become a feature of the structure, since it is very firmly attached to the body and does not turn. If the skate wants to look back, he turns his whole body or bulges his eyes.

Each eye moves separately from the other. This feature is also inherent in chameleons, which can rotate each eye separately in a circle. There is debate about how long seahorses live, as they usually live up to 4 years, but in some cases you can find representatives who live up to 6 years.

Another feature of the fish is its vertical arrangement in water. This is possible due to the fact that the swim bladder is divided into two sections by a thin septum and allows you to maintain a vertical position.

Popular types

There are about 50 species of seahorses in their natural habitat. Each one is different in size, appearance and some structural features. The most common are the following:

In southern Japan, dwarf individuals can be found. They are painted in light colors with purple stripes or spots. Perfectly disguised as corals. They have a body length of no more than 3 cm. They prefer not to descend to a depth of more than 40 meters.

Nutrition Features

Amazing fish are one of the few species that are not hunted by other inhabitants of the deep sea. It's all about the structure of individuals, which is dominated by spikes and bone plates. Such food is not able to digest large predatory fish or other hunters. The only one who can eat a skate is a sand crab, whose stomach is able to digest what they eat.

The skates themselves feed on plankton.

The favorite delicacy of these unusual fish is crayfish cubs and other small fish. Thanks to amazing ability pipit camouflage and remain motionless for several hours, he successfully hunts them. It waits for the moment when the victim approaches and draws it along with water into its mouth.

Despite their small size, seahorses are very voracious and are capable of hunting and eating up to 10 hours a day. a large number of small individuals. This is due to the fact that individuals do not have a stomach, so food quickly passes through all parts of the digestive system. If you keep them in captivity, There are a few feeding rules to follow:

• Captive-bred individuals are capable of feeding on dead daphnia, shrimp, and other small individuals, as well as dry fish food.
• The food must be fresh.
• Individuals should be fed regularly, but overeating should not be allowed, since in captivity this can cause a variety of diseases.

It is allowed to install a variety of feeders in which food is placed. A few days after the installation of such an innovation, the individuals themselves will understand that this is a new place for eating. Near the feeders, several long rods or sticks should be installed so that the skates can cling to them while eating.

seahorse breeding

Unusual fish lead a sedentary lifestyle and are in one place almost all the time. In case of danger, they can develop a decent speed or attach to big fish to take them to a safer place.

The fish is loyal and throughout life prefers to be close to one partner. Only in rare cases female or male changes life partner. The most incredible will be the fact that in a married couple, the male bears the offspring. After the start of spawning, the couple performs a certain mating dance for a long time. After that, the female transfers the eggs to a special pocket, which is located on the male's belly.

After 2 weeks of gestation, fry come out of the pocket, which are already independent and immediately set off for free swimming. Different types of seahorses differ in their fecundity and can lay from 5 to 2000 eggs at a time.

Breeding skates in captivity is quite difficult and an aquarium hobbyist will not be able to handle it. Despite the fact that individuals are quite popular among aquarists, keeping them in an artificial environment has many nuances. If the conditions are not met, they begin to get sick and die.

Currently, seahorses of various species are on the verge of extinction. This is due to the fact that in many countries the fish is an expensive delicacy, and it is caught in industrial scale. In some regions of Australia and Asia, skates are used as a raw material for the preparation of various ointments and medicines.

ABOUT healing properties The meat of this amazing fish has been known to mankind since ancient times and included it in many dishes. However, then amateur fishing could not significantly reduce the number of individuals. Now the catch has become a real problem, as it gradually leads to the complete disappearance of the species.