The seahorses (Hippocampus) are a genus of fish of the family Syngnathidae of the order sea eelidae (Syngnathiformes). The scientific name Hippocampus comes from Ancient Greek (hippos: horse, kampos: sea monster) and refers to the Greek mythical creature hippocampus.
The body of a seahorse is laterally flattened; the head resembles that of a horse and has a long snout. The belly is convex, the tail is long and retractable, and can be used as a gripper. A tail fin is missing. Seahorses do not have scales but rows of nodules or spines, called bone rings. Because of this, a seahorse has both an internal and external skeleton, and is too hard to eat for many animals. A seahorse swims upright, and moves slowly. The dorsal fin is used for propulsion. The pectoral fins, which are placed very high, just behind the gill lids, are used for steering. Both eyes can move independently of each other so that the whole body does not have to be twisted to follow something. Seahorses can also change colour, and even adopt patterns and drawings.
Photographed in Ouwehands Dierenpark
We are Loek and Karin Lobel, and our passion is animal photography, both in the wild and in zoos.
We are loek en Karin Lobel and we love to take pictures in the wild but also in the Zoo...
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