Seahorse (47 photos). How is a seahorse made? Seahorse description for kids

the beauty

One appearance of these fish sets up pleasant associations with childhood, toys and fairy tales.

The horse swims in an upright position and tilts its head so gracefully that, looking at it, it is impossible not to compare it with some kind of small magic horse.

It is covered not with scales, but with bone plates. However, in his shell, he is so light and fast that he literally soars in the water, and his body shimmers with all colors - from orange to gray-blue, from lemon yellow to fiery red. By the brightness of the colors, it is just right to compare this fish with tropical birds.

Seahorses inhabit the coastal waters of tropical and subtropical seas. But they are also found in the North Sea, for example, off the southern coast of England. Choose quieter places; they don't like rough water.

Among them there are dwarfs the size of a little finger, and there are giants under thirty centimeters. The smallest species - Hippocampus zosterae (pygmy seahorse) - is found in the Gulf of Mexico. Its length does not exceed four centimeters, and the body is very hardy.

In Black and mediterranean seas you can meet the long-faced, spotted Hippocampus guttulatus, whose length reaches 12-18 centimeters. The most famous representatives of the species Hippocampus kuda, which lives off the coast of Indonesia. Seahorses of this species (their length is 14 centimeters) are painted brightly and colorfully, some are speckled, others are striped. The largest seahorses are found near Australia.

Whether they are dwarfs or giants, seahorses resemble each other like brothers: a trusting look, capricious lips and an elongated "horse" muzzle. Their tail is hooked to the stomach, and horns adorn their heads. It is impossible to confuse these graceful and colorful fish, similar to jewelry or toys, with any inhabitant of the water element.

How does pregnancy proceed in males?

Even now, zoologists find it difficult to say how many species there are. seahorses. Possibly 30-32 species, although this figure is subject to change. The fact is that seahorses are difficult to classify. Their appearance is too changeable. Yes, and they know how to hide in such a way that a needle thrown into a haystack will envy.

When Amanda Vincent of Montreal's McGill University began studying seahorses in the late 1980s, she was annoyed: "At first, I couldn't even notice those subs." Masters of mimicry, in a moment of danger, they change their color, repeating the color of surrounding objects. Therefore, they are easily mistaken for algae. Many seahorses, like gutta-percha babies, can even change the shape of their bodies. They have small growths and nodules. Some seahorses can be difficult to distinguish from corals.

This plasticity, this “color music” of the body helps them not only to fool enemies, but also to seduce partners. The German zoologist Rüdiger Verhasselt shares his observations: “I had a pink-red male in my aquarium. I put a bright yellow female with a red dot on him. The male began to look after the new fish and after a few days turned the same color as her - even red specks appeared.

In order to watch enthusiastic pantomimes and colorful confessions, one must go underwater early in the morning. In their confessions, they follow a funny etiquette: they nod their heads to greet a friend, while clinging to neighboring plants with their tails. Sometimes they freeze, getting closer in a “kiss”. Or whirl in a stormy love dance, and the males now and then inflate their stomachs.

The date is over - and the fish spread out to the sides. Adyu! See you next time! Seahorses usually live in monogamous pairs, loving each other to death, which they often have in the form of nets. After the death of a partner, his half misses, but after a few days or weeks he finds a roommate again. Seahorses settled in an aquarium suffer especially from the loss of a partner. And it happens that they die one after another, unable to bear the grief.

What is the secret of such affection? In the kindred of souls? Here's how biologists explain it: by regularly walking and caressing each other, seahorses synchronize their biological clocks. This helps them choose the most opportune moment for procreation. Then their meeting is delayed for several hours, or even days. They glow with excitement and whirl in a dance in which, as we remember, males inflate their stomachs. It turns out that the male has a wide fold on the abdomen, where the female lays her eggs.

Surprisingly, in seahorses, the offspring is carried by the male, having previously fertilized in abdominal pouch caviar.

But this behavior is not as exotic as it might seem. Other species of fish are also known, for example, cichlids, in which males hatch caviar. But only in seahorses are we dealing with a process similar to pregnancy. The tissue on the inside of the brood pouch thickens in the male, as in the mammalian uterus. This tissue becomes a kind of placenta; it binds the father's body to the embryos and nourishes them. This process is controlled by the hormone prolactin, which stimulates lactation in humans - the formation of mother's milk.

With the onset of pregnancy, walking through the underwater forests stops. The male stays in an area of about one square meter. In order not to compete with him in obtaining food, the female delicately swims to the side.

After a month and a half, "birth" occurs. The seahorse presses against the kelp stalk and inflates its belly again. Sometimes a whole day passes before the first fry slips out of the bag. Then the young will start to emerge in pairs, faster and faster, and soon the bag will expand so much that dozens of fry will swim out of it at the same time. Number of newborns different types Miscellaneous: Some seahorses breed up to 1600 babies, while others have only two fry.

Sometimes the "birth" is so difficult that the males die of exhaustion. In addition, if for some reason the embryos die, then the male who carried them will also die.

Evolution cannot explain the origin of reproductive functions seahorse. The whole childbearing process is too "unorthodox." Indeed, the structure of the seahorse appears to be a mystery if you try to explain it as the result of evolution. As one major expert said a few years ago: “In relation to evolution, the seahorse is in the same category as the platypus. Since it is a mystery that confuses and destroys all theories trying to explain the origin of this fish! Recognize the Divine Creator, and everything is explained.

What do seahorses do if they don't flirt and expect offspring? One thing is certain: they do not shine with success in swimming, which is not surprising given their constitution. They have; only three small fins: the dorsal helps to swim forward, and the two gill fins maintain vertical balance and serve as a rudder. In a moment of danger, seahorses can briefly speed up their movement, flapping their fins up to 35 times per second (some scientists even call the number "70"). They are much better at vertical maneuvers. Changing volume swim bladder, these fish move up and down in a spiral.

However, most of the time, the seahorse hangs motionless in the water, catching its tail on algae, coral, or even the neck of a relative. It seems that he is ready to hang around doing nothing all day. However, with visible laziness, he manages to catch a lot of prey - tiny crustaceans and fry. It has only recently been possible to observe how this happens.

The seahorse does not rush for prey, but waits until it swims up to it. Then he draws in the water, swallowing careless small fry. Everything happens so fast that you can't see it with the naked eye. However, scuba divers say that when you get close to a seahorse, you sometimes hear smacking. The appetite of this fish is amazing: barely born, the seahorse manages to swallow about four thousand miniature shrimps in the first ten hours of life.

In total, he is destined to live, if he's lucky, four or five years. Enough time to leave behind millions of descendants. It seems that with such numbers, the prosperity of seahorses is ensured. However, it is not. Out of a thousand fry, only two survive on average. All the rest themselves fall into someone's mouth. However, in this whirlwind of births and deaths, seahorses have been afloat for forty million years. Only human intervention can destroy this species.

According to the World Foundation wildlife, the number of seahorses is rapidly declining. Thirty species of these fish are included in the Red Book, that is, almost all species known to science. The ecology is primarily responsible for this. The oceans are turning into a world dump. Its inhabitants degenerate and die.

Half a century ago, the Chesapeake Bay - a narrow, long bay off the coast of the US states of Maryland and Virginia (its length reaches 270 kilometers) - was considered a real paradise for seahorses. Now you can hardly find them there. Alison Scarratt, director of the National Aquarium in Baltimore, estimates that ninety percent of the algae in the bay have died in that half-century, due to water pollution. But algae were natural environment seahorse habitats.

Another reason for the decline is the massive capture of seahorses off the coast of Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and the Philippines. According to Amanda Vincent, at least 26 million of these fish are harvested every year. A small part of them then ends up in aquariums, and most die. For example, from these cute fish, drying them, they make souvenirs - brooches, key rings, belt buckles. By the way, for the sake of beauty, they bend their tail back, giving the body the shape of the letter S.

However, most of the captured seahorses - about twenty million according to the World Wildlife Fund - end up with pharmacists in China, Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia and Singapore. The largest transshipment point for the sale of this "medical raw material" is Hong Kong. From here it is sold to more than thirty countries, including India and Australia. Here, a kilo of seahorses costs about $1,300.

From these dried fish, crushed and mixed with other substances, such as tree bark, drugs are prepared that are just as popular in Japan, Korea, China as we are - aspirin or analgin. They help with asthma, coughs, headaches and especially impotence. AT recent times this Far Eastern "Viagra" became popular in Europe.

However, even ancient authors knew that medicines could be prepared from seahorses. So, Pliny the Elder (24-79) wrote that in case of hair loss, one should use an ointment prepared from a mixture of dried seahorses, marjoram oil, resin and lard. In 1754 English magazine Gentlemen's Magazine advised breastfeeding mothers to take seahorse extract "for better milk flow." Of course, old recipes can cause a smile, but now World Organization health research " healing properties seahorse."

Meanwhile, Amanda Vincent and a number of biologists are advocating a complete ban on the uncontrolled harvesting and trade of seahorses, trying to end predatory fishing, as whaling was done in its time. The situation is that in Asia, seahorses are caught mainly by poachers. To end this, the researcher created the Project Seahorse organization back in 1986, which is trying to protect seahorses in Vietnam, Hong Kong and the Philippines, as well as to establish a civilized trade in them. Things are especially successful on the Philippine island of Khandayan.

The inhabitants of the local village of Handumon have been harvesting seahorses for centuries. However, in just a decade, from 1985 to 1995, their catches dropped by almost 70 percent. Therefore, the seahorse rescue program proposed by Amanda Vincent was perhaps the only hope for the fishermen.

To begin with, it was decided to create a protected area with total area thirty-three hectares, where fishing was completely banned. There, all the seahorses were counted and even numbered, putting a collar on them. From time to time, divers looked into this water area and checked if the “lazy homebodies”, seahorses, had swum away from here.

We agreed that males with full brood bags will not be caught outside the protected area. If they were caught in the net, they were thrown back into the sea. In addition, environmentalists have tried to re-plant mangroves and underwater forests of algae - the natural shelters of these fish.

In some zoos - in Stuttgart, Berlin, Basel, as well as in the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the California Aquarium, the breeding of these fish is going well. Perhaps they can be saved.

In the seas surrounding Russia, there are only two types of seahorses (although species diversity skates and large, in total in different seas of the world there are 32 species of seahorses). These are the Black Sea seahorse and the Japanese seahorse. The first lives in Black and Seas of Azov, and the second in Japanese.

“Our” seahorses are small and do not have chic long outgrowths all over their bodies, like, for example, a rag-picker that lives in warm seas and masquerading as thickets of sargasso algae. Their carapace has a modest protective function: it is very strong and usually painted to match the color of the background.

As with many creatures that fill the seas, skies and land, there is no link for the seahorse that can connect it with any other form of life. Like all major types of living creatures, the complex seahorse was created suddenly, as the book of Genesis tells us.

The seahorse is an amazing and unusual representative of tropical waters. Its appearance and some features of life differ from representatives of the 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 the natural environment, you can meet the seahorse in subtropical and tropical reservoirs 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 seahorse prefers to be at the bottom of the reservoir and hide in the algae.

The body of the fish is covered with a very hard and bony shell. which protects against negative influences environment. Often there are thorns on the body different lengths and forms, some 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 position in the 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 sea depths. 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 the amazing ability of the skate to disguise itself and remain motionless for several hours, it successfully hunts them. It waits for the moment when the victim approaches and draws it along with water into its mouth.

Seahorses do not have a stomach. Therefore they are very greedy.

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 passes through all departments rather quickly. 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 does a female or male change a life partner. Most incredible is the fact that married couple offspring are carried by the male. 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 kinds Pipits are distinguished by 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 on an industrial scale. In some regions of Australia and Asia, skates are used as a raw material for the preparation of various ointments and medicines.

On the healing properties of this meat amazing fish mankind has known since antiquity 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.

Seahorse - small sea fish belonging to the needle family. Represented by 54 species. The size of the smallest individuals is about 2 centimeters, and the body length of the largest can reach 30 centimeters. Scientists involved in the study of the origin of this marine life, conducted various anatomical, genetic, molecular studies and, based on the results obtained, came to the conclusion that he is a very modified needle fish.

The seahorse is a truly unique creation of nature. Lives in the natural environment for 4-5 years. Its appearance and habits are absolutely atypical for fish. In shape, the body of this creature is similar to the figure of a chess horse. It has spines and leathery outgrowths. It is protected not by scales, but by a hard bone shell, which only a land crab can bite through. There are fins on the back and chest. Camouflage body color also contributes to protection from enemies.

The eyes are arranged according to the same principle as that of a chameleon. The swim bladder consists of 2 parts separated by a septum. The head is larger than the ventral. The bladder is located along the body and allows the seahorse to swim in an upright position.

Due to the primitive structure of the digestive system (that is, the absence of teeth and stomach), seahorses are forced to eat almost all the time. They feed on small shrimps and crustaceans, which are drawn in with water by a tubular stigma that functions like a pipette.

The habitat of seahorses is tropical and subtropical seas. They prefer calm clear water, since rocking on the waves is fraught with exhaustion for them. Move slowly. They don't do well in the new place. They are subject to stress and can even die from the loss of a partner, because they belong to monogamous creatures and choose their life partner once and for all.

Interestingly, the choice is made not by the male, but by the female. She invites suitable "cavaliers" with a kind of dance and gives her sympathy to the fastest and hardiest. In the process of mating, the female lays eggs in a special pocket located on the male's tummy, which bears offspring. After the birth of babies, parents do not take care of them at all, so their survival rate is low.

Due to mass capture and other reasons, today the number of seahorses has decreased, and some species are even at risk of complete extinction, which is why they are listed in the Red Book.

Option 2

The seahorse is a representative of the class of ray-finned fish belonging to the needle family. The genus includes 54 species, the sizes of seahorses vary from 2 to 30 cm.

The habitat of the fish is the coastal regions of subtropical and tropical seas and oceans. Seahorses carry out a sedentary lifestyle, attaching their tails to algae stalks; they practically do not move in the water column. Usually their color depends on the color of the plants, they completely merge with the background, which makes the fish invisible to both prey and predators. The main food of seahorses is small plankton. The elongated stigma sucks small marine animals along with water. Due to the structure of the external skeleton - the shell, which covers the entire body of the seahorse with the exception of the tail section, the fish has practically no natural enemies.

The fish owes its unusual body shape to its anatomical structure. The swim bladder is located along the entire body, its head and abdominal parts are separated by a septum. The seahorse swims upright because the head swim bladder has larger size compared to the abdomen.

Genetic and molecular studies have revealed that the seahorse is a highly modified needlefish. Their species split in the Late Oligocene. To date, almost no fossils of seahorses have been found, so it is impossible to trace how they acquired the appearance familiar to us in the course of evolution.

The male seahorse bears and gives birth to children. The female lays unfertilized eggs in a special cavity - a pocket present in the abdominal region of the male. There, the eggs are fertilized, and after 1-2 months, young fish appear from them. They look like adults.

Recently, the population of the seahorse has begun to decline, which is associated with uncontrolled human activities. In coastal areas, this amazing fish is being massively caught. Because of the exotic unusual shape seahorses are used as souvenirs and gifts. It already finds 30 species in the Red Book.

Seahorses are saved by their fertility, at one time the fish can reproduce more than 1000 cubs. However, not all of them are destined to become adults.

2, 4, 5, 6 grade

Chronological table of Mozart (life and work)
1756 - the future composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in the family of an Austrian musician. In addition to him, the sister of Wolfgant Nannerl grew up in the family.
The Vikings were inhabitants of Scandinavia from about 700 to 1125. This period is called the Viking Age. The Vikings traveled long distances in their ships as traders, settlers and warriors.

Black Sea sea Horse is a native inhabitant of the Black Sea, formed in separate view about 20 million years ago. Nature rewarded him with an original appearance, and in the course of evolution, unique abilities and skills appeared that were inaccessible to other inhabitants. underwater world. Human actions have put skates on the brink of extinction, forcing biologists to add them to the Red Book.

Description

In biological encyclopedias, the Black Sea seahorse is named Hippocampus guttulatus (long-snouted seahorse) and belongs to the class of ray-finned fish. Its upper part is similar to a chess "horse", and the elongated tubular mouth-pump (one third of the length of the head) only enhances the resemblance. The head is located perpendicular to the body and can move up / down, which other types of fish are not able to do. The eyes work independently of each other, and the viewing angle reaches 300 degrees.

The body of the seahorse is elongated and slightly flattened laterally and is constantly in an upright position due to a double air bladder, the upper section of which is smaller than the lower one. It ends with a long and flexible tail without a blade-fin, capable of curling into a ring. They skates cling to algae, hiding from danger or attacking prey from an ambush.

Sea Horse
Photo: http://zapcity.fr

For protective purposes, the body of the seahorse is covered with horny plates, spikes of various lengths and growths, which serve as an additional means of camouflage in thickets of algae. The shell is of high strength and does not lose its properties even after drying. Having a brownish-yellow color with small white dots, they are able to change color, adjusting to the environment.

Seahorses swim vertically and not very fast, making up to 70 “strokes” per second with their dorsal fin, helping themselves with oscillatory movements of the body and tail. Under the head there are two more small fins, corresponding in their functions to the pectoral fins of fish of "standard" forms.

Male seahorses are usually larger and grow up to 20-21 centimeters, females up to 17-18. The usual life expectancy does not exceed 4-5 years.

Habitat and food

The seahorse lives in the waters of the Black, Azov and Mediterranean seas, off the eastern shores Atlantic Ocean, from the Netherlands to the African coast. It chooses places with a depth of up to 20 meters, with the obligatory presence of underwater vegetation, where it spends about 90% of its life, setting up ambushes and hiding from predators. Prefers water without strong currents.

They mostly live in small groups of 3-5 individuals, almost never gathering in large numbers. But they can also create pairs for life, especially when living in artificial conditions of aquariums. At the same time, if one of the partners dies, the second mourns very much, which is noticeable by the change in behavior, and may also die.

"Seed pair" of seahorses
Photo: https://c2.staticflickr.com

The seahorse feeds with the help of a mouth-pump, drawing food along with water at great speed, from distances up to 4 centimeters. He eats small bottom inhabitants of the sea, crustaceans, fish fry, plankton, which he catches from ambush in algae. It is worth noting the appetite of animals that “lunch” at least 5 times a day and are able to do this up to 10 hours a day.

An interesting fact: in seahorses, males, not females, bear and give birth to offspring.

Spawning

Unlike most animals, males are responsible for the reproduction of seahorses, who bear and “feed” the eggs, give birth to offspring. At the same time, females carefully choose the future father, and their mating dances can last 3 days. At this time, the skates swim in shallow water (up to 4 meters), swim together, periodically rising to the surface, exchange songs from click sounds, and even “kiss”, touching their pump mouths.

Seahorse in the waters of the Black Sea
Photo: wikimedia.org

When the prelude ends, the female lays eggs (depending on size, from 10 to 650 eggs). For this, at the bottom abdominal cavity the male is provided with an egg pouch-pocket pierced circulatory system to supply oxygen to the developing larvae. After filling (sometimes the horse takes eggs from several females), its seam closes and overgrows, and the “father” spends internal fertilization caviar.

The gestation of eggs takes about 4-5 weeks. All this time, the seahorse is in shallow water, without leaving a square meter of its “personal” area, where it hunts and hides. This is his territory, where even “frivolous” females leave to provide the “nursing father” with enough food.

After the formation of fry, completely ready for independent life, difficult childbirth begins - the male can wriggle up to 2 days, trying to open the birth bag. Sometimes it ends with his death. If everything went well, the little skates crawl out of the pocket and rise to the surface for a breath of air (to fill the air bubble), then return to the "daddy". For some time they live next to him, hiding in a "bag" in case of danger, but soon they swim away and never return.

Use of seahorses

Seahorses are used by man in several areas, one of which is aesthetic in nature. Vacationers willingly buy these original species of animals for souvenirs. Black Sea coast, or try to "domesticate" them by planting them in an aquarium. In the second case, death is also almost inevitable, since skates do not tolerate changes well, especially if their “half” is left in the sea.

Sea Horse

Another area in which seahorses are widely used is ethnoscience especially among the peoples of Asia. According to traditional healers, drugs from animals help in the treatment of baldness, skin diseases, atherosclerosis, cough and asthma. Especially popular means in the treatment of impotence and disorders of sexual functions. The ability to bind harmful carcinogens and toxic substances in the human body is also noted, which helps in the prevention of cancer.

One appearance of these fish sets up pleasant associations with childhood, toys and fairy tales. The horse swims in an upright position and tilts its head so gracefully that, looking at it, it is impossible not to compare it with some kind of small magic horse.

In the Black and Mediterranean Seas, you can meet the long-snouted, spotted Hippocampus guttulatus, whose length reaches 12-18 centimeters. The most famous representatives of the species Hippocampus kuda, which lives off the coast of Indonesia. Seahorses of this species (their length is 14 centimeters) are painted brightly and colorfully, some are speckled, others are striped. The largest seahorses are found near Australia.

How does pregnancy proceed in males?

Even now, zoologists find it difficult to say how many species of seahorses there are. Possibly 30-32 species, although this figure is subject to change. The fact is that seahorses are difficult to classify. Their appearance is too changeable. Yes, and they know how to hide in such a way that a needle thrown into a haystack will envy.

This plasticity, this “color music” of the body helps them not only to fool enemies, but also to seduce partners. The German zoologist Rüdiger Verhasselt shares his observations: “I had a pink-red male in my aquarium. I put a bright yellow female with a red dot on him. The male began to take care of the new fish and after a few days turned the same color as her - even red specks appeared.

Surprisingly, in seahorses, the male bears the offspring, having previously fertilized the eggs in the abdominal bag.

With the onset of pregnancy, walking through the underwater forests stops. The male keeps on a plot of about one square meter. In order not to compete with him in obtaining food, the female delicately swims to the side.

After a month and a half, "birth" occurs. The seahorse presses against the kelp stalk and inflates its belly again. Sometimes a whole day passes before the first fry slips out of the bag. Then the young will start to emerge in pairs, faster and faster, and soon the bag will expand so much that dozens of fry will swim out of it at the same time. The number of newborns in different species is different: some seahorses breed up to 1600 babies, while others have only two fry.

Sometimes the "birth" is so difficult that the males die of exhaustion. In addition, if for some reason the embryos die, then the male who carried them will also die.

Evolution cannot explain the origin of the seahorse's reproductive functions. The whole childbearing process is too "unorthodox." Indeed, the structure of the seahorse appears to be a mystery if you try to explain it as the result of evolution. As one major expert said a few years ago: “In relation to evolution, the seahorse is in the same category as the platypus. Since it is a mystery that confuses and destroys all theories trying to explain the origin of this fish! Recognize the Divine Creator, and everything is explained.

What do seahorses do if they don't flirt and expect offspring? One thing is certain: they do not shine with success in swimming, which is not surprising given their constitution. They have; only three small fins: the dorsal helps to swim forward, and the two gill fins maintain vertical balance and serve as a rudder. In a moment of danger, seahorses can briefly speed up their movement, flapping their fins up to 35 times per second (some scientists even call the number "70"). They are much better at vertical maneuvers. By changing the volume of the swim bladder, these fish move up and down in a spiral.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, the number of seahorses is rapidly declining. Thirty species of these fish are included in the Red Book, that is, almost all species known to science. The ecology is primarily responsible for this. The oceans are turning into a world dump. Its inhabitants degenerate and die.

However, most of the seahorses caught - about twenty million according to the World Wildlife Fund - end up with pharmacists in China, Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia and Singapore. The largest transshipment point for the sale of this "medical raw material" is Hong Kong. From here it is sold to more than thirty countries, including India and Australia. Here, a kilo of seahorses costs about $1,300.

From these dried fish, crushed and mixed with other substances, for example, with the bark of trees, drugs are prepared that are just as popular in Japan, Korea, China as we do - aspirin or analgin. They help with asthma, coughs, headaches and especially impotence. Recently, this Far Eastern "Viagra" has become popular in Europe.

However, even ancient authors knew that medicines could be prepared from seahorses. So, Pliny the Elder (24-79) wrote that in case of hair loss, one should use an ointment prepared from a mixture of dried seahorses, marjoram oil, resin and lard. In 1754, the English Gentlemen's Magazine advised breastfeeding mothers to take seahorse extract "for better milk flow." Of course, old recipes can bring a smile, but now the World Health Organization is conducting a study on the "healing properties of the seahorse."

To begin with, it was decided to create a protected area with a total area of thirty-three hectares, where fishing was completely banned. There, all the seahorses were counted and even numbered, putting a collar on them. From time to time, divers looked into this water area and checked if the “lazy homebodies”, seahorses, had swum away from here.

We agreed that males with full brood bags will not be caught outside the protected area. If they were caught in the net, they were thrown back into the sea. In addition, environmentalists have tried to re-plant the mangroves and underwater forests of algae - the natural shelters of these fish.

Since then, the number of seahorses and other fish in the vicinity of Khandumon has stabilized. Especially a lot of seahorses inhabit the protected area. In turn, in other Philippine villages, making sure that the neighbors are doing well, they also follow this example. Three more protected areas have been created in which seahorses are bred.

They are also grown on special farms. However, there are problems here. So, scientists do not yet know what diet is best for seahorses.

In some zoos - in Stuttgart, Berlin, Basel, as well as in the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the California Aquarium, the breeding of these fish is going well. Perhaps they can be saved.

In the seas surrounding Russia, there are only two species of seahorses (although the species diversity of horses is great, there are 32 species of seahorses in different seas of the world). These are the Black Sea seahorse and the Japanese seahorse. The first lives in the Black and Azov seas, and the second in the Japanese.

“Our” seahorses are small and do not have chic long outgrowths all over their bodies, like, for example, a rag-picker that lives in warm seas and disguises itself as thickets of sargasso algae. Their carapace has a modest protective function: it is very strong and usually painted to match the color of the background.

The intention of the Creator is clearly and clearly manifested in the seahorse. But the fossil record presents another problem for those who believe in evolution. To defend the idea that the sea horse is the product of evolution over millions of years, supporters of this theory need fossils showing the gradual development of a lower form of animal life into a more complex form of a sea horse. But much to the chagrin of evolutionists, “no fossilized seahorses have been discovered.”