WEIRD FISH.

Is it a horse?

Is it a caterpillar?

Is it seaweed?

No, it's a seahorse, a very weird fish.

A seahorse can be as long as a big foot or as small as a thumbprint. Most

A seahorse can be as long as a big foot or as small as a thumbprint. Most seahorses are as long as your index finger.

Seahorses live in warm, shallow water around the world. Some live on stalks of seaweed. Others live on al reefs.

All have tails that curve and bend. A seahorse's tail holds onto a stalk or coral. There, the seahorse waits for food to glide past.

A seahorse must eat thousands of tiny shrimp every day. Yet a seahorse has no teeth! What does it do? It sucks in food through its snout. By one way, seahorses don't make good pets for your fish tank. They need live food!

Seahorse dads have the babies. No other animal does that. A seahorse mom puts her eggs into the dad's brood pouch. Then in about a month, nearly 200 seahorse babies are born and swim away on their own.

Seahorses are gentle. They don't bite or sting. But in many places, need seahorses for food or medicine. There are no rules about seahorse fishing. In some places, seahorses are fished too much.

Dr. Amanda Vincent is a scientist who studies seahorses. She believes that seahorses will become endangered. She has started seahorse farms in Vietnam and the Philippines. They use nets with small holes. The fishermen catch seahorse dads ready to give birth and place them inside the fenced-in corrals.

The dads can't escape because the holes are too small. When the baby seahorses are born, they swim away. The grownups are sold for food or medicine.

Hooray for seahorse babies! They get a chance to grow!