Fun Trivia » Animals » Fish » Seahorses

Poseidon was the Greek god of the sea and of horses, so a mixture of the two was inevitable. In mythology, the hippocamp (or hippocampus) is depicted as having the front of a horse and a long, coiling, fish tail.

"Hippopotamus" means "river horse". Difficulty: Hard.

 

sea horse, horse fish, river horse

Australia has at least 14 species and Japan has at least 7 species. Difficulty: Hard.

 

South Pacific, Atlantic, Mediterranean

The name for the hippocampus is attributed to Julius Caesar Aranzi (1529/1530 - 1589), an anatomist, because this part of the brain looks like a seahorse. It is involved with memory, spatial memory, and navigation.

The fund-raising mascot for the National Society for Epilepsy (UK) is Caesar the Seahorse, because the hippocampus is usually affected during epilepsy. Caesar the Seahorse is named for the Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar (who had epilepsy), not for the anatomist Julius Caesar Aranzi who named the hippocampus. Difficulty: Hard.

 

kidney, lung, stomach

Syngnathidae (pronounced sing-nath-i-day) comes from the Greek words "syn" - together; and "gnathus" - jaws or snout. Seahorses belong to the genus, Hippocampus from the Greek words "hippos" - horse and "campos" - monster. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Trumpetfish, Stingrays and Hornfish, Trumpetfish, Sticklebacks and Boxfish, Mudskippers, Seadragons and Stonefish

Seahorses use their prehensile tails to anchor themselves in place and for courtship.

Males will also "tail-wrestle" to exert dominance. Difficulty: Hard.

 

swimming, communication, attracting food

Young fry are also called "ponies". Depending on the species and the size of the parents, 5 to 1600 fry can be produced. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Foals, Rotifers, Brine

Seahorse eat constantly to help get enough food to digest Difficulty: Hard.

 

bones, liver, kidney

The female lays her eggs into the male's pouch where they are fertilised, incubated and he gives birth to live young. Difficulty: Average.

 

After fertilisation, the female lays her eggs in the sand and abandons them - leaving the male to protect the eggs and rear the young., The male lays the eggs, The male creates an "incubation bubble" for the female to lay her eggs into.

The other three are related due to the fused jaws. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Pipefish, Trumpetfish, Snipe Fish

Seahorses have a skeleton made up of bony plates. They use their gills to breathe and have an inflatable bladder to help regulate their buoyancy in the water. Difficulty: Hard.

 

They use their prehensile tails, They must remain in constant motion, They have a secondary set of gills

Actually, some fish will eat seahorses, however, most will not because they are very bony with little meat on them. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Each eye moves independently, Range from inch to about a foot or more in size, They have no teeth

The pectoral fins are used for propulsion and are located on either side of the head. Difficulty: Hard.

 

On either side of their dorsal fin, At the base of their anal fin, On each side of the chest area (imagine where shoulders might be)

 

Dwarf Seahorse, Sea Dragon, Pot bellied seahorse

Seahorses have no teeth; their food is sucked through their tubular snout. All food must be sized accordingly - if it is too big they will not be able to eat it, likewise large seahorses show little interest in food that is too small. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Food sources must be a minimum of 5mm, Food sources must be a minimum of 2 mm, Food sources must be sized according to abdomen size (<2%)

All of them have fused jaws, so they kind of suck up their food like a straw. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Male breeders, Horse head, Armor plated

During the courtship ritual, the female positions her ovipositor above the male's pouch for egg transfer. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Hippocampus Ovipositor - a tropical breed of seahorse, A small shrimp (crustacean), used as a food source, The device used to measure the salt content in the water.

The caudal fin is the tail fin which most fish uses for movement in the water. A seahorse's tail is more adapted for clinging on to vegetation. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Dorsal, Pectoral, Anal

Coronet styles vary from breed to breed. Some have a distinctive knob-like coronet, others slope backwards, while the H.barbouri has a stylish medium coronet with five sharp spines. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Crown, Tiara, Top Hat

Over 20 million seahorses are caught for use in "traditional" medicine in countries such as China.

For the aquarium hobbyist, "Wild Caught", or WC, seahorses do not perform as well in captivity as "Captive Bred", or CB, seahorses. WC seahorses are also more difficult to feed, and usually insist on live food instead of freeze-dried. Difficulty: Hard.

 

aquarium hobbyists, loss of habitat, water pollution

Seahorses are used in traditional medicines from many cultures to cure a variety of ailments. They are typically wild-caught, dried, and sold in pairs. The dried seahorses are ground into a powder and combined with other ingredients to form the tonic. In 1988 Australia placed all seahorses and seadragons under the Australian Wildlife Protection Act and declared their conservation status as vulnerable. Difficulty: Hard.

 

5 tonnes, 10 tonnes, 50 tonnes

Very odd looking animals! Difficulty: Hard.

 

India, Japan, South America