Sea dragon (thing)

Deep in the kelp forests of Australia's coastal waters live tiny miracles of nature. So rare are these bizarre and beautiful creatures that scientists have only been able to observe them in captivity. For nearly 16 years the tiny miniatures with elongated bodies and little dragon snouts have been studied and still not much is known about them. It is unknown how old sea dragons must be to reproduce, it is impossible to tell the males from the females, until they start to mate, and there is no known life span for the gentle cousins of the sea horse.

What is known

Family Syngnathidae
Sea dragons are a type of pipefish with leaf-like appendages that keep them well hidden in floating seaweed or kelp beds. Aside from having eyes that can move independently of one another, they have no teeth which means they have to slurp their food up as you would a spaghetti noodle. They eat small shrimp-like mysids and other crustacians and grow to be about 10-12 inches in length. Fragile and extremely sensitive to changes in their environment, their numbers have been cut by pollution, urban run-off and temperature changes. Because of this they have been named a protected species by the Australian government.

Like their cousins, sea dragons are unique among fish in that the males carry the eggs until they hatch. When sea dragons mate, the female lays roughly 250 eggs on his body, where they remain for a period of about two months. When the egg has matured it opens and the baby sea dragon hangs from it, straightening out before wriggling away. It will take one month for the baby to reach 4 inches in length, and only two years for it to reach it's adult length.

The Two Species:

Weedy Sea Dragon

Leafy Sea Dragon