Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
During the preparatory phase, the seahorse slowly approaches the prey while in an upright position, after which it slowly flexes its head ventrally. In the expansive phase, the seahorse captures its prey by simultaneously elevating its head, expanding the buccal cavity, and sucking in the prey item.
Adult seahorses eat 30 to 50 times a day if food is available; due to their slow consumption they must feed constantly to survive. [20] Big-belly seahorses do not have a stomach or teeth, so they feed by sucking small invertebrates in through their bony tubular snouts with a flick of their head. Their snouts can expand if the prey is larger ...
Lined seahorses feed mainly on minute crustaceans and brine shrimp, which they suck in through their snout. They are able to suck their prey by creating a current of water leading directly into its snout. Since seahorses are weak swimmers, they must ambush their prey by blending into their surroundings, which they do rather easily.
Male seahorses have a specialized ventral brood pouch to carry the embryos, male sea dragons attach the eggs to their tails, and male pipefish may do either, depending on their species. [4] The most fundamental difference between the different lineages of the family Syngnathidae is the location of male brood pouch. [5]
An alternative explanation for the evolution from pygmy pipehorse to seahorse is based on the finding that a vertically bent head is more efficient in capturing prey because it increases the animal's strike distance, which is considered particularly useful in tail-attached sit-and-wait predators. [15]
Pygmy seahorses, about the size of a fingernail, are some of the smallest vertebrates in the world. First discovered in 1969, little was known about the creatures. But in the early 2000s, British ...
The dwarf seahorse is a lie-in-wait predator, feeding on living prey, including small crustaceans such as amphipods, small shrimps, other small invertebrates, and fish fry. Once their target is fixed, the hunter stretches towards it and sucks it through its snout.
The Pacific seahorse, also known as the giant seahorse, (Hippocampus ingens) is a species of fish in the family Syngnathidae. Their genus name (Hippocampus) is derived from the Greek word hippos, which means "horse" and campus, which means "sea monster." [4] This species is the only seahorse species found in the eastern Pacific Ocean. [5]