Seahorses are so named for their equine appearance. Although they are fish, they do not have scales, rather a thin skin stretched over a series of bony plates arranged in rings throughout their body. Each species has a distinct number of rings. Seahorses swim upright, another characteristic that is not shared by their fish relatives who swim horizontally. Seahorses have a coronet on their head, which is distinct to each seahorse, much like a human fingerprint. They swim very poorly by using a dorsal fin, which they rapidly flutter to propel them, and pectoral fins, located behind their eyes, which they use to steer.

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Awww how cute, this little fellow is hiding in the sea grass. As if he was playing hide and seek with his mate behind him (purple)

They prefer to live in sheltered areas such as sea grass beds, coral reefs, or mangroves.

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The young sea horse has just been introduced to the world. It’s father gave birth to him. Yep, that is right, male seahorses get pregnant.

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The father can give birth to as few as 1 and as many as 2000 at once!
The survival rates of these infants are actually fairly high compared to fish standards, because they are initially sheltered in their father’s pouch during the earliest stages of development, while the eggs of most other fish are abandoned immediately after fertilization.

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Seahorses rely on camoflage in order to hunt and avoid predators.

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There are also some very strange shapped and colored seahorses.

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A seahorse dance:

Such cool creatures!