Seahorses

[RodISHI]

I came across this sweet little website and thought I'd share it. The link is her seahorse page. IMO, it is worth the visit to go there.

Wild Ocean Blue seahorses

 

[Big Black Dog]

I've heard of seahorses. In fact, a very famous seahorse was Searetariat. Won the Triple Crown of seahorse racing fame. Another famous seahorse was Seagar.

 

[Defiant1]

I didn't see anything good at that site until I got the the sushi.......yummmm.

 

[RodISHI]

I considered raising them for awhile but decided it would take too much time for me. Instead I just sculpt them.

 

[RodISHI]

Another cool site. This one is about Sea Lion rescues. I recall the ones we used to see when we would go to the beaches in So. Ca. There used to be some that would come right up close to you at a few of the piers.

The Marine Mammal Center

 

[RodISHI]

A few more cool websites for information and articles on the oceans and critters.

I really enjoyed this one.
Island Bay Marine Education Centre

I found this one interesting on trawlers and watching the damage from Google Earth.
Fishing for Data on Ocean Trawlers

Collecting information on damage from all over the earth.
SKYTRUTH: using remote sensing and digital mapping to educate the public and policymakers about the environmental consequences of human activities

 

[JW Frogen]

We have a place here called Carnac Island. Young male sea lions go there apparently to get away from the females in the colony. Understandable. We went there on my father-in-law's boat and went swimming. Some of the sea lions started swimming very close to us, and it did not seem like they were playing. I asked my father in law if they were dangerous and he said “don’t worry, they are probably just horny.”

So if getting anally raped by a sea lion is on your bucket list I know just the place.

 

[RodISHI]

I see you and the seal are talking over the terms and agreements Mr. Frogen.

 

[Xenophon]

Be cooler if it was sea monkeys.

 

[boedicca]

I considered raising them for awhile but decided it would take too much time for me. Instead I just sculpt them.

Wow! That is beautiful! Thanks for posting the site in the OP.

 

[Diuretic]

My state's marine emblem.

The Marine Emblem of South Australia - Leafy Seadragon

 

[waltky]

Weird and wondrous seahorse gives up its genetic secrets...

Undersea Mystery: Seahorse Genetic Secrets Unveiled
December 14, 2016 | WASHINGTON — Scientists have unlocked some of the genetic secrets of the weird and wondrous seahorse including its exotic eccentricity of male pregnancy.

Researchers said on Wednesday they sequenced the genome of a seahorse species for the first time and identified the genetic underpinning for certain peculiarities in this equine-looking fish group that inhabits coastal waters around the world. Seahorses boast a host of oddities. Males, not females, carry and give birth to babies. They swim upright, not horizontally. They have horse-like heads, tube-like snouts and no teeth. They have grasping tails to grip seagrasses and corals to avoid being swept away by currents.

Their bodies are covered in bony plates. Unlike most fish, they lack tail and pelvic fins. Their eyes work independently, letting them look forward and backward simultaneously. And they can change colors to camouflage themselves. "They are such iconic animals, one of the examples of the exuberance of evolution," said evolutionary biologist and genome researcher Axel Meyer of Germany's University of Konstanz, one of the researchers in the study published in the journal Nature. "Their numbers are declining due to habitat destruction and harvest by humans," added molecular biologist Byrappa Venkatesh of Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

A seahorse swims in a tank at the Underwater World Aquarium in Pattaya, nearly 145 km (90 miles) east of Bangkok, Thailand​

The researchers analyzed the genome of the Southeast Asian tiger tail seahorse, which reaches 4 inches (10 cm) long and boasts a yellow-and-black banded tail. It had the fastest rate of molecular evolution among any fish whose genome has been studied. Male seahorses possess a brood pouch. During mating, a female deposits eggs into the male's pouch. The male fertilizes the eggs internally and carries them in the pouch until they hatch, releasing the fully formed offspring into the sea. A gene present in other fish that plays a role in egg hatching underwent duplication in the seahorse and assumed a new role, helping the advent of the male pouch.

Genes that in people and other animals play a role in tooth production were mutated in seahorses and lost functionality. Lacking teeth, seahorses use their snout to suck in plankton and other tiny prey. A gene involved in development of pelvic fins in other fish and legs in humans was absent in seahorses, and they lack these fins. Instead, seahorses swim by using a small fin on their back that beats rapidly, with tiny pectoral fins placed near the back of the head used for steering.

Undersea Mystery: Seahorse Genetic Secrets Unveiled