Dimdima
Online Children's Magazine from India
Dimdima
Online Children's Magazine from India
Rani Iyer
I first encountered this peculiar creature in the basket of a fisherman. The black creatures were small, bony, and drying. They had spines, and a curly tail. I looked at the snout and wondered aloud, “What is that peculiar creature?”
“A horse!” replied the fisherman. I laughed in disbelief.
Of all the creatures that inhabit the ocean, the sea horse is unique. The sea horse is known as Hippocampus (meaning bent horse) in Greek. H. kuda is commonly found in the east coast of India. It has a bony Armour-plated body, eyes that can provide binocular vision, a pouch, and the ability to change colors. The sea horse is actually a fish!
In all, there are about 40 species that are found in warm or temperate seas around the world.
Sea horses range from 6 to 12 inches long, and are found in many colors. They live in shallow waters of reefs (0.5 M to 30 M) and anchor themselves to the seaweeds using their tail. One of their fins help them move forward and another controls the direction of movement. Unlike other fishes, sea horses glide slowly through water by regulating the volume of gas in their bodies.
Diatoms, small crustaceans, worms, and other invertebrates form their diet. Using their tube like snout, the sea horses ambush animals that swim past them. Sea horses have the ability to use their right eyes to look for a prey and the left eye to search for their enemies! They escape from their enemies (large fish, birds, crabs and sea turtles), by changing their colors rapidly.
Sea horses live for about 4 years. The male is solitary living in its territory. The male and female sea horses pair for life, usually on a full moon day. The courtship is elaborate and lasts for weeks with displays of synchronized swimming. She horse makes about 200-700 pink eggs that are deposited into the brood pouch of the male. The male maintains the embryos for 3 to 6 weeks. The baby sea ponies are about a centimeter long when they are born and learn to care for themselves!
Recently, a new species of sea horse, H. denise, was discovered in the tropical waters of Indonesian archipelago. The orange creature measures only 16 mm!
Sea horses can be legally traded in most countries and dried sea horses fetch a handsome sum of money. The Chinese, Indonesians, and Filipinos use them extensively in traditional medicine systems.
By leaning more about creatures of the sea and their uses around the world, we can conserve and protect many species locally.
Last updated on :8/26/2003
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Dimdima is the Sanskrit word for ‘drumbeat’. In olden days, victory in battle was heralded by the beat of drums or any important news to be conveyed to the people used to be accompanied with drumbeats.
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
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Dimdima.com, the Children's Website of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan launched in 2000 and came out with a Printed version of Dimdima Magazine in 2004. At present the Printed Version have more than 35,000 subscribers from India and Abroad.