Many people imagine the sea-horse to be real horse living in the sea. This is not true at all. The sea-horse is so called because it is a tiny creature with a horse – liked head which lives in the sea.
Sea – horse are found mostly in warm seas. They have a long, flexible tail which is used for wrapping around weeds for support. They swim I upright position, their movements being helped by a rapidly oscillating fin on their back. The male sea – horse lays her eggs in this pouch.
The most remarkable thing about the sea – horse is that part of the process of reproduction is taken over by the male creature. One the female sea – horse has laid her eggs in the male creature’s pouch, she leaves. The hatching of the egg is done by the male fish.
Mating begins with the male and the female sea – horses doing courtship dance. The male and female creatures swim around each other in circles. At the end of the dance, the male appears to bow to its partner; but in actually, the male is banding to pump water from his pouch. Next, the female fish lays eggs into the male’s pouch. About two hundred eggs are laid. The pouch, then close up. The female sea-horse now swims away, leaving the male sea-horse to do hatching.
The eggs are hatched about a month later. The young sea-horses are ejected from the male creature’s pouch by means of muscular contractions.
