Leafy & Weedy Seadragons & Seahorses
When I came upon magical, gracefully fairy-like Leafy Seadragons at the Waikiki Aquarium, I stopped in my tracks, completely enchanted.
The Leafy Seadragons were swimming gracefully, moving like swaying seaweed, it's their protection, living on the Australian Reefs.
Though close relatives of Seahorses, Leafy and Weedy Seadragons have larger bodies and leaf-like appendages which enable them to hide among floating seaweed or kelp beds.
As spring approaches, male and female seadragons pair. The female develops around 300 orange eggs in her lower abdominal cavity. The lower half of the tail on the male begins to form fine blood vessels near the surface, swells and looks wrinkled. He then develops about 120 small pits or 'egg cups' on the tail and the eggs are transferred from the female and fertilised.
Seadragons feed on larval fishes and amphipods, such as and small shrimp-like crustaceans called mysids ("sea lice"), sucking up their prey in their small mouths. Many of these amphipods feed on the red algae that thrives in the shade of the kelp forests where the Seadragons live.
In the wild they live individually or in pairs and are more often seen in shallow coastal waters. Fortunately Seadragons currently are not used for the medicine trade, however they may be targeted in the aquarium fish trade. Keeping live seadragons is extremely difficult and collectors often target males with eggs, hatching out and selling the young. Removing these animals from the wild populations may impact on local populations of seadragons. To date, no successful, closed cycle, captive-breeding program has occurred (ie getting a generation of captive-raised seadragons to breed). Economically and environmentally, it makes sense to limit collection and export of this species until we know more about them.
Read MoreThe Leafy Seadragons were swimming gracefully, moving like swaying seaweed, it's their protection, living on the Australian Reefs.
Though close relatives of Seahorses, Leafy and Weedy Seadragons have larger bodies and leaf-like appendages which enable them to hide among floating seaweed or kelp beds.
As spring approaches, male and female seadragons pair. The female develops around 300 orange eggs in her lower abdominal cavity. The lower half of the tail on the male begins to form fine blood vessels near the surface, swells and looks wrinkled. He then develops about 120 small pits or 'egg cups' on the tail and the eggs are transferred from the female and fertilised.
Seadragons feed on larval fishes and amphipods, such as and small shrimp-like crustaceans called mysids ("sea lice"), sucking up their prey in their small mouths. Many of these amphipods feed on the red algae that thrives in the shade of the kelp forests where the Seadragons live.
In the wild they live individually or in pairs and are more often seen in shallow coastal waters. Fortunately Seadragons currently are not used for the medicine trade, however they may be targeted in the aquarium fish trade. Keeping live seadragons is extremely difficult and collectors often target males with eggs, hatching out and selling the young. Removing these animals from the wild populations may impact on local populations of seadragons. To date, no successful, closed cycle, captive-breeding program has occurred (ie getting a generation of captive-raised seadragons to breed). Economically and environmentally, it makes sense to limit collection and export of this species until we know more about them.
