NATURALIST'S 



NOTEBOOK 



When museum visitors approach the glass, 

 a female flutters close — as if curious about the 

 onlooker. The seahorse turns to the side. One eye 

 robotically turns toward the glass while the other eye 

 stays focused on the opposite side of the aquarium. 



"Whenever I am on the second floor, the 

 female will come up to the front of the tank and look 

 at me — they have very good vision and emotional 

 personalities," says Smith. 



THE HIPPOCAMPUS HERD 



Seahorses are unlike any other fish in the ocean. 

 They swim upright and have necks. Their bodies seem 

 like compilations of different creatures — a horse 

 head, lizard eyes and aardvark snout. They even have 

 body armor — bony rings and plates — much like an 

 armadillo. 



Their abilities — including changing colors rapidly 

 like a chameleon and using tassel-like appendages and 

 coronets — help seahorses adapt to their environment. 

 Seahorses also allow smaller creatures and plants to 

 encrust on their bodies, creating further camouflage 

 from predators. 



Seahorses employ a sit-and-wait strategy to eat, which they often 

 do. A seahorse only digests 30 to 40 percent of its food because it has no 

 stomach. 



When Smith drops shrimp into the tank, each of the seahorses' 

 eyes move, focusing on the incoming food. In what appears to be a split 

 second, the seahorses' vacuum-like snouts suck in shrimp. 



"Seahorses are ambushers and do not chase food," Smith explains. 



Seahorses are found in the world's temperate and tropical coastal 

 waters from England to Brazil. 



Their natural habitat includes eelgrass beds, marshes, mangroves 

 and coral reefs, all of which are destroyed by trawling, dredging, pollution, 

 and severe storms, according to Sarah Foster and Amanda Vincent, 

 Project Seahorse researchers and authors of a life history of the genus and 

 recommendations for conservation. 



Seahorses prefer locations along cable lines or coral structures 

 within estuaries where there are calm waters, no beaches and no people, 

 according to Smith. 



North Carolina is an open range for the lined seahorse, Hippocampus 

 erectus, and the longsnout seahorse, Hippocampus reidi. 



Seahorses often are found in southeastern North Carolina waters, he 

 adds. But they can be found all the way up the state's coastline, where the 

 water temperature varies from about 54 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit during 

 the year. 



CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: A longsnout curls its 

 prehensile tail. • The heavily armored lined seahorse hides 

 in sea grass. • Longsnout seahorses are more common in 

 tropical waters. The seahorses have lizard-like eyes that 

 move independently. • When mating the lined seahorse 

 rapidly changes color to white in seconds. 



Unlike their tropical 

 relatives, temperate-range 

 seahorses are incredibly adaptable 

 to changes in temperature and 

 salinity, according to David 

 LaPlante, aquarist at the North 

 Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. 



CAROUSEL DANCERS 



Only 2 percent of seahorses 

 bom survive to adulthood, 

 making breeding success critical. 



Seahorses live in small clusters and generally keep the same area 

 throughout their lives, except when transported by storms to different 

 locations. 



The genus is unusual in that the male — rather than the female 

 — carries the young, known as fry. The young are protected in a pouch, 

 much like a marsupial. 



Due to his role as carrier of the young, a male's intestines are 50 

 percent longer than a female's, according to Smith. 



Seahorses often are monogamous for several breeding seasons, 

 making it difficult to find a replacement when a partner dies or disappears. 



Smaller seahorse species attain sexual maturity at about three 



HOLIDAY 2005 



