Where Seahorses live

[Fredfish]

Heres an interesting little snippit on some seahorse species and their preferred habitat.

From:
STATUS OF SEAHORSES IN THAI WATERS
Ratima Karuwancharoen and Chon Poosuwan, Bangsaen Institute of Marine Science, Burapha University, Chonburi
Faculty of Animal Sciences and Agricultural Technology, Silpakorn University, Petchaburi

Seahorses inhabit a diverse range of habitats. For example, hippocampus capensis is found in estuaries and can tolerate a wide range of salinities. Many species typically such as H. whitei,
H. borboniensis, H. electus, H. guttulatus and H. zosterae live in association with seagrasses and eelgrasses. H. kuda, on the other hand, preferentially lives in tropical mangrove areas which are devoid of rooted aquatic macrophytes. H. subelongatus lives on the seafloor in areas dominated by sponges and tunicates while H. come and H. zebra are coral-reef dwellers.

Fred

 

[Poniegirl]

I wonder, and have been trying to find information on, just how strong water movement is in natural seahorse habitat. It is slim findings, at best.
Having kept seahorses in a variety of surroundings, I find water movement to be a surprisingly minor issue. If I'm not mistaken, that would be the purpose of the strength in the tail. If anyone has had the amazing experience of a seahorse hitching to a finger and the job of gently dislodging the same seahorse, you know that tail strength is considerable.
The habitat would also explain the armor.
Anyone have info? Are the (respective) habitats tidal or deeper, so that current is more a factor?

 

[Fredfish]

I have not come across any specific references to water flow rates.

I came across one account where a pair of horses was tagged and releases in an estuary at the mouth of a river. They found one of the pair on the other side of the channel at some point later and expressed surprise that it could cross this open water.

Some horses like H. kuda are found in estuaries, river mouths etc. A very wide range of conditions including those that involve tides.

In the few studies done on territory, its size has been found to average 6 meters square for males and 13 meters square for females. I suspect this means that most horses stay in a fairly local area ie: a single seagrass bed.

This is pure speculation, but in a dense seagrass bed, it is possible for there to be a lot of flow over the bed at times while flow could be considerably reduced within the grass. Stand in the woods on a windy day and you will see what I mean.

I suspect that seahorses, at least shallow water species, are well adapted to deal with higher flows at times.

I have seen mine move into and out of the main flow from my powerhead hunting for pods in the algae. They use their tails to control their progress downstream.

Hope this helps a little.

Fred

 

[Poniegirl]

http://www.ethnobiomed.com/content/1/1/12
I appreciate the discussion a great deal!
I found this quite interesting and quite sobering. I hope it is okay to post the link.

 

[pledosophy]

Reidi have been found in SPS beds where there is higher flow.

Pots are found in open ocan and considerably stronger swimmers then most sh's.

 

[Fredfish]

Interesting link poniegirl. Thanks.

Pledo, got an original reference still? I'm always interested to see whats published.

FWIW, not all "sps beds" are in washmachine flow areas. They flow reefkeepers so desperately seek to create exists in most cases only in the top 5 meters or so of water.

When I had the great pleasure of diving the GBR in Australia, I went on a live-abord to Osprey reef. Winds were around 25 knots and it was touch and go as to whether or not we would be able to cross to this reef. Water motion near the surface was fairly high, but once you got down to 12 meters or so, it was quite calm. Water flow was steady and laminar and easy to swim through.

If you were to put an aquarium sized cube around coral at this depth, the 'turnover' would probably be quite amazing, but that is because all the water was moving through the area in one direction.

Fred

 

[pledosophy]

On the Project seahorse site there is info about every seahorses and where they are naturally found in the ocean. Also gives some size and breeding info. It's a good site even if they do despise us hobbyists for killing the ocean.