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Marli Stevens Animal Biology Prof. Hampton 12/7/11 The Dwarf Seahorse On the class field trip to The Living Planet Aquarium on December 1, 2011, I found a wall with different seahorses on display. I have always been fascinated with seahorses ever since I was a little and decided to do my report on the Dwarf Seahorse. I will be explaining the different features, scientific elements, ancestry, and other important information on this small, aquatic creature. The Dwarf Seahorse is of the species: zosterae; genus: Hippocampus; Family: Syngnathidae; Order: Gasterosteiformes; Class: Actinopterygii; Subphylum: Vertebrata; Phylum: Chordata; and Kingdom: Animalia. In the wild, the Dwarf Seahorse can be found with cirri but because they can actually be kept in captivity as pets, many lose their cirri once born or put in captivity. This small creature is about one to one and a half inches long, have many color variations which may change due to food, stress, environment, mood, and other factors, have tiny, brittle bones, a head like a horse, fins like a fish, tail like a monkey, and pouches like a kangaroo. This seahorse has a coronet at the top of the head, large eyes, long snout, gill openings, pectoral fins, dorsal fins, bony plates covering the body, tail, brood pouch (in males, anal fin, and keel. The Dwarf Seahorse is the slowest fish on the planet because it swims upright with only the dorsal fin. They swim at about five feet per hour according to the Guinness World Records book. Dwarf Seahorses live in sea grasses in shallow coastal seawater regions, usually in the western Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and southeastern U.S. Usually the water needs to be between 72 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit (22 to 25 degrees Celsius). The Dwarf Seahorse usually eats at the sea floor and its diet consists of live fish Marli Stevens Animal Biology Prof. Hampton 12/7/11 larvae, brine shrimp nauplii, copepods, and other shrimp larvae. It is not an aggressive feeder and uses its snout as a straw to suck up its food and eat. Because of this seahorses’ diet, it helps keep population numbers at a normal level in its ecosystem. Because this animal is so tiny and brittle, they break down so quickly that much of their past, including their ancestry, is a mystery. But recently, information has been found that points to seahorses emerging about 25 million years ago and that, through genetic research, the pygmy pipehorse and other pipefishes and pipehorses are actually an ancestor many, if not all, seahorses. There are about 38 different species of seahorses in the world, and they evolved from these pipefishes and pipehorses millions of years ago into swimming vertically and hitching onto vertical sea vegetation. Swimming and hitching vertically help them to hide from predators by camouflaging themselves with the vegetation. Sexual Maturity occurs around 3 months of age and Dwarf Seahorses usually only live 12 to 18 months. The reproductive cycle is very interesting in this species. The female will deposit eggs into the male’s brood pouch, where the male will fertilize and carry the eggs for about 9-10 days. The seahorse babies will hatch and will leave the pouch the last day of the male’s pregnancy; between 5 to 30 babies can be born each brood and a male seahorse get pregnant again every 10 days. After the birth, the parents leave their offspring to fend for themselves. In captivity, the babies seem to fend better in a tank separate from their parents for unknown reasons, although it is safe for them to stay in the same tank as the parents if needed. Humans have found Dwarf Seahorses and other seahorses beautiful and inspiring because of their looks. Because of this, they have been added into tales, myths, stories, Marli Stevens Animal Biology Prof. Hampton 12/7/11 and have been used for medicines, souvenirs, and now pets. Because people have a sortof love with these creatures, they have been called a “flagship species” because people recognize the need to conserve their environment, which will help other threatened species to be conserved in their environments as well. Removal of this species would deplete the beauty humans find in this animal, the medicine humans use, and perhaps the well-being of the habitat where they live. I’m very happy to learn more about my childhood fascination with the Dwarf Seahorse and learned much more about this small animal than I expected. I learned about their anatomy, their scientific characteristics, reproductive cycles, habitats, human relations, and more. I hope to return to The Living Planet Aquarium again soon and see the small seahorses again now that I understand them better and hope to see them in the wild one day. Marli Stevens Animal Biology Prof. Hampton 12/7/11 Works Cited "Dwarf Seahorse." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 07 Dec 2011. Web. 8 Dec 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_seahorse>. Dwarf Seahorse Picture. <http://www.tnaqua.org/Libraries/Fish/Dwarf_Seahorse.sflb.ashx>. "H. zosterae." Seahorse Source. Seahorse Source Inc., 2005. Web. 8 Dec 2011. <http://www.seahorsesource.com/zosterae.html>. Irey, Brittany. "Hippocampus zosterae." Animal Diversity Web. The Regents of University of Michigan, 1995-2008. Web. 8 Dec 2011. Kaplan, Matt. "How Seahorses Evolved to Swim "Standing Up"." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 22 May 2009. Web. 8 Dec 2011. "Seahorse Anatomy." Animal Corner. Animal Corner, 2003-2011. Web. 8 Dec 2011. < http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/marine/seahorse/seahorse_anatomy.html >. "Seahorses: Flagships of Our Coasts." ProQuest. CSA, 2003. Web. 8 Dec 2011. <http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/seahorses/overview.php>. "Seahorses." National Wildlife Federation. National Wildlife Federation, 1996-2011. Web. 8 Dec 2011. <http://www.nwf.org/Kids/RangerRick/Animals/Fish/Seahorses.aspx >. The Living Planet Aquarium, Sandy, Utah, USA. Weiss, Tami. "Dwarf Seahorses as Pets." Fused Jaw. N.p., 23 Feb 2009. Web. 8 Dec 2011. <http://www.fusedjaw.com/aquariumcare/dwarf-seahorses-as-pets/>.