Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Weedy Sea Dragons

What a beautiful creature!


From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weedy_seadragon

These fish are slow-moving and rely on their camouflage as protection against predation; they drift in the water and with the leaf-like appendages resemble the swaying seaweed of their habitat. They lack a prehensile tail that enables similar species to clasp and anchor themselves.
Individuals are observed either on their own or in pairs; feeding on tiny crustaceans and other zoo plankton by sucking prey into their toothless mouths. Like seahorses, sea dragon males are the sex that cares for the developing eggs. Females lay around 120 eggs onto the brood patch located on the underside of the males' tail. The eggs are fertilized and carried by the male for around a month before the hatchlings emerge. Sea dragons, seahorses and pipefish are among the few known species where the male carries the eggs. The young are independent at birth, beginning to eat shortly after.
Mating in captivity is rare since researchers have yet to understand what biological or environmental factors trigger them to reproduce. In captivity the survival rate for weedy sea dragons is about 60%.
The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California and the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  in the USA, and the Melbourne Aquarium in Melbourne, Australia are among the few facilities in the world to have successfully bred weedy sea dragons in captivity, though others occasionally report egg laying. [ In March 2012 the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, USA, announced a successful breeding event of weedy sea dragons. As of July 2012, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has also successfully bred and hatched out baby weedy sea dragons on exhibit.


If you want to see a live cam of them, link here:

http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/exhibits/tropical_pacific_gallery/webcam_weedy_sea_dragons


(it takes a minute to load)

Enjoy!


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