Nilsson 1 Sera Nilsson Professor Hampton Biology 1050 April 16, 2014 Lined Seahorse When taking our

class trip to the Loveland Planet Aquarium I was not sure what animal I wanted to do my paper on. But then I came across the Hippocampus erectus or commonly known as the Lined Seahorse. When doing more research on the Lined Seahorse I came to find that this species belongs to the genus Hippocampus, the family is Syngnathidae, the order is Gasterosteiformes, the class is Actinopterygii, and the phylum is Chordata. Chordates are defined as organisms that possess a structure called a notochord, at least during some part of their development. The notochord is a rod that extends most of the length of the body when it is fully developed. Lying dorsal to the gut but ventral to the central nervous system, it stiffens the body and acts as support during locomotion, some common characteristics are bilateral symmetry. A segmented body, including segmented muscles. Three germ layers and a welldeveloped coelom. A single, dorsal, hollow nerve cord, usually with an enlarged anterior end (brain). A tail projecting beyond (posterior to) the anus at some stage of development. Pharyngeal pouches present at some stage of development. A ventral heart, with dorsal and ventral blood vessels and a closed blood system. A complete digestive system and bony or cartilaginous endoskeleton usually are present. The range of H. erectus extends from Nova Scotia to Argentina and throughout the Gulf of Mexico, they also suspected to inhabit several other Caribbean territories and nations. They are found in algal and coral reefs, floating Sargassum clumps, mangroves, sea grasses, soft bottom areas and around sponges to a depth of

Nilsson 2 73 meters. Lined Seahorse are predatory fishes, they feed on plankton as their primary diet, but can also eat a variety of small crustaceans and mollusks. Even though they are considered predators they are also known as prey, specific predators of the lined seahorse is scarce, but the camouflage behavior of this species among sea grass blades, algae and mangrove roots reduces predation risk. Larger fishes likely prey on adults and juveniles. They come in 6 main colors which include olive-brown, ash gray, orange, red, black or yellow. Seahorses are different than most animals because instead of the female getting pregnant the male gets pregnant. The female deposits about 1,500 eggs into the males pouch where pregnancy lasts from 10- 25 days. Lined Seahorses are commonly known to grown up to 5-7 inches long. Seahorses are related to pipefish, weedly, and leaf dragons because they all belong to the group Syngnatnids which means fused jaw. They are commonly characterized by their exterior view of elongated snouts, fused jaws, the absence of pelvic fins and by thick plates of bony armor covering the body. The swim by rapidly fanning their fins. They are relatively slow compared with other fish but are able to control their movement with great precision including hovering in place for a long period of time. Lined Seahorse are important to us because they are frequently collected for the aquarium trade, and demand is high for dried specimens used in traditional medicine and curios. However areas where they live are in danger because of the increase of pollution and overfishing. Overall all I enjoyed doing more research on Lined Seahorses and found it interesting to know their background, and where they come from.