The Mango Vol 1 Issue 6

The Seahorse Dances in the Morning

Text by Joanne M. Anderson

The seahorse is a fish which breathes through gills and sports an amalgamation of interesting features seen on mammals. They live in shallow tropical and temperate salt waters everywhere around the globe. Among some four dozen or so species, different kinds make their home waters in the Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic and Pacific oceans and European locales like the Thames Estuary. There are short-snouted seahorses, long-snouted ones, dwarf seahorses, pygmy seahorses and even one dubbed sea pony. The horse resemblance is in the neck and head shape, as most fish do not even have much of a pronounced neck, and decidedly not one which is vertical. Additionally, horses and seahorses have one eye on each side of their heads. This facilitates processing two images at the same time, and as prey creatures, real

horses have about a 350-degree field of vision. They do not see things directly in front of their faces or behind their heads, which ends up right behind their tails. For this reason, walking close behind a horse, especially without talking or touching the horse, is discouraged. They are likely to kick first (think: predator back there preparing to attack) and ask questions later. The seahorse is encased in armor-like plates, reminiscent of the armadillo and hedgehog. Thin skin covers these bony plates, creating a tough outer layer. They have few natural predators for not being exceptionally digestible. Their tails might be monkey- related for the ease with which they’ll hang on to something to stop, perhaps to rest, by wrapping the end of it around vegetation or a piece of coral.

The Mango

64

N o v / D e c

2021