Find out all about one of the ocean’s most fascinating fish with our super-cool seahorse facts!

Seahorse facts

Fast seahorse facts

Family: Syngnathidae
Genus: Hippocampus
Classification: Fish
IUCN status: Data Deficient or Vulnerable, depending on species
Lifespan (in wild): 3 years
Weight: 200g
Body size: 2-35cm
Top speed: 150cm per hour
Diet: Carnivore
Habitat: Ocean
Range:

Seahorses are tiny fish that are named for the shape of their head, which looks like the head of….yup, you guessed it -a tiny horse. There are around 36 seahorse species, which are found in tropical and temperate coastal waters where they swim upright among seaweed and other plants.

Seahorses’ bodies are covered in tiny, spiny plates, all the way from their head down to their curled, flexible tail. The tail can grasp objects, which comes in handy when these cool critters want to anchor themselves to vegetation. To move forward through the water, seahorses use their dorsal fin (back fin). To move up and down, they adjust the volume of air in a tiny pocket inside their body, called a ‘swim bladder’.

If you love this article, you'll love our Ocean Activity and Colouring Book is written on the post, which shows a book called Ocean Activity and Colouring Book, as well as a blue jellyfish

The seahorse life-cycle is one of the most fascinating nature has to offer! A female seahorse lays dozens, sometimes hundreds, of eggs in a pouch on the male seahorse’s abdomen. Called a ‘brood pouch’, it’s a bit like the pouch of a kangaroo, used for carrying young. Depending on the seahorse species, the eggs remain in the brood pouch for up to 45 days, until the eggs are ready to hatch. Seahorse facts

The new baby seahorses, each about the size of an M&M, find other baby seahorses and float together in small groups, clinging to each other using their tails. Cute, eh? Unlike kangaroos, though, baby seahorses do not return to the pouch. These guys have it tough, and must find food and hide from predators as soon as they’re born!

A master of camouflage, these fab fish can be incredibly difficult to spot. Camouflage not only helps the seahorse avoid predators, such as crabs and other fish, it helps it to be a predator, too.

You'll love our educational magazines for all ages! is written on the post, which shows a book called Oceans Find It! Explore it! which has a clownfish on the front

Feeding on small crustaceans, seahorses are super-skilled ambush predators. Rather than chasing their food, they wait, unnoticed, for prey to pass by. They then suck their unsuspecting victim though their tube-like mouth, before swallowing it whole. Gulp!

Two species of seahorse can be found in coastal waters off the UK and Ireland – the Spiny Seahorse and the Short Snouted Seahorse. Have you ever been lucky enough to see one?

Picture credits – Seahorse face: Richard Carey, Dreamstime. Seahorse in ocean grasses: Lukas Blazek, Dreamstime.
Likes

LEAVE A COMMENT

THANK YOU

Your comment will be checked and approved shortly.

WELL DONE,
YOUR COMMENT
HAS BEEN ADDED!

COMMENTS

  • Fluttershy_Raven12

    I love this website

  • Shelby

    Wow

  • lavender

    this what so cool to learn about, hope you do more!!!!

  • molly

    seahorses are great and they are clever too

  • Www

  • LhMyBroType

    yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Daisy

    I love Seahorse

  • hi

    cool cool cute

  • Billy

    Very interesting facts!

  • Let s go

  • Urwa!

    Love you guys. GO NATIONAL GEOGRAFICS!

  • Annabelle

    Very interesting facts! I'm going to tell all of my classmates!

  • qorcade

    Wow

  • Saranya Sinha

    A life cycle of a seahorse

  • Mahogany

  • Darmesh

    Cool

  • Emily Laguna

    Nice facts

  • thanks for the help for my assiment for school

  • h

    awesome

  • Wow

  • amasing

  • Oliver B

  • alainavoss

    that is so cool

  • Isabelle

  • Maya

    wow

  • billieeilish62

  • India Plant

    These facts were really cool! I think they are very educational, and very exciting!

  • Google

    Google Sites of interest we've a link to.

  • Martes 19 de mayo / Tuesday 19th of May « 3º Educación Primaria SEK-Atlántico

    […] Seahorse facts! […]

  • lol

    cool

  • Pippa

    LoL

  • Hi

    I like animals they are cute, and interesting and I love them, so do me and my friends. -_-

  • Amanda

    It's really helpful!!!!!!! Thanks!

  • Hi

    Wow

  • Jayda

    Amazing!

  • van ritchie

    GREAT WORK!!!!!!!

  • Hello

    Wow

  • Brianna

    Awesome

  • Quincy Alston

    wow

  • poop

    amazing info

  • logan

    seahorses are in action thank you

  • arantza

    they swim sooooo sllllooooooowwwww

  • arantza

    i have to do a seahorse report and this helped a lot

  • Animals are cool

    I love sea horses ❤❤❤

  • Cady

    Wow lol

  • seahorses are so lovely i love seahorses so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Charlotte Calvert

    AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Red dog 123

    Amazing how they can swim so fast

  • Caitlyneve27

    Wow! Seahorses are so much more interesting than I thought!!!

  • Leaf

    So cool! I once saw a seahorse face to face!

  • Anna

    I LOVE ANIMALS!

  • Jenny

    I love national geo!

  • Hello

    Wow I didn't know they were so small!

  • Isla

    I LOVE ANIMALS

  • Isla

    Wow sea horses are cool!

  • Calista birch

    WOW seahorses are the most fasinating animals on the planet i learned so much like how the males have the babies and not the woman. #SEAHORSES4LIFE!

  • ella

    love

  • Jo

    I saw a seahorse only once when swimming in the sea at TENBY. It was so small and AMAZING

  • bouncybeast

    i love seahorses, they're so cute! :D

  • zarah

    i love seahorses

  • bella

    there super amazing in every way..

  • Zuzanna

    These are the most beautiful creatures

  • michael jackson

    cool nice I love seahorses I love animals.

  • emma

    way cool

  • Pizza&Donuts

    Favourite fact: Sea Horse babies cling together and aren't protected by their daddy

ADVERTISEMENT
ANZ subs takeover March 2020 MPU

More Like Sea Life

Sea Life

Jellyfish Facts!

Join us as we travel the oceans far and wide with these electric jellyfish facts!
Sea Life

Killer whale facts!

We get the lowdown on these magnificent marine mammals…
Sea Life

The Ocean’s Weirdest Creatures!

You’ll meet some seriously strange creatures here…
Sea Life

14 facts about stingrays!

Discover the secrets of this fab fish…