To the question What does a RAG HORSE look like? given by the author YOSHAN the best answer is Ribbon-shaped leathery growths on its body resemble either leaves or feathers and help it remain unnoticed by predators in thickets of algae. His Latin name Phyllopteryx is made up of two words: phyllon - leaf and pteryx - feather, wing. Literally - a leafhopper.
It earned its name due to its unusual appearance: outgrowths extend from the body, head, and fins in the form of ribbons, flaps and some incomprehensible “scraps,” and all of this trembles and sways in time with the waves. The color of the skate is naturally indistinguishable from the color of sargassum algae.
The horse is a rag picker and will be saved in the seaweed without hiding. He looks torn and torn all over. If it floats, it is easy to mistake it for a rag or a piece of seaweed. Rag pickers are most diverse off the coast of Australia.
Skates do not swim like fish, but glide gracefully, holding their heads and top part bodies vertically. How does the horse move itself? It turns out to be the dorsal fin, which quickly sways from side to side, like a fan. Skates swim slowly, so they do not run away from enemies, but hide, camouflaging themselves among algae and changing their color depending on the natural background. And the rag-tailed pipit is initially composed of numerous long spines and ribbon-like outgrowths and outwardly looks like a branch of Sargassum algae, in the thickets of which it lives.
When for seahorses the time is coming mating games, they are singing" . The sounds of mating duets resemble snapping fingers. So the male invites the female to lay eggs in his brood pouch, which is located on his belly and opens outwards with a small hole. After the eggs are laid, all concerns about bearing the offspring fall entirely on the shoulders of the male pipist. The number of embryos carried by one skate is small - from 20 to 200, but the offspring carried in the pouch to the stage of a viable larva have a high chance of survival.
Like the seahorse, the leaf dragon gets its name from its resemblance to another creature (albeit a fairy tale one). Its size, of course, does not reach that of a real dragon, but compared to seahorse, this is a real giant, it grows up to 45 cm. The food of the leafy dragon is plankton, algae, and floating debris.
Unlike seahorses, male sea dragons do not have a brood pouch. Like their close relatives, female dragons lay up to 120 ruby-red eggs, which are then fertilized and attached in a special place under the male's tail. During pregnancy, couples move closer to each other every morning and perform a kind of love dance with their skin color changing towards brighter shades. 4-8 weeks pass, and the birth of little dragons (exact copies of adults) occurs.
Leafy dragons are under threat of destruction due to industrial emissions, as well as becoming specimens in the collections of divers fascinated by their appearance. Due to this danger, the species is under the protection of the Australian government.
Less famous herbal sea ​​Dragon(Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) is similar to its deciduous counterpart, but the yellow and red shoots of its body are unsightly and resemble weeds - hence the name. They are mainly found in Australian waters off the coast of New South Wales and Victoria.

Probably each of you is familiar with a sea creature that is shaped like a small horse. This is a ragpicker - a seahorse that is part of the order of ray-finned fish. It lives sea ​​creature in the Indian Ocean, near the Australian continent. Settles in coral reefs, among dense seaweed, at shallow depths, up to 20 meters. Loves water average temperature. Currently, the population of the rag picker has greatly decreased, which forced the Australian government to pass a number of laws to protect it.

The rag picker is a miniature fish with a bizarre shape. It reaches only 30 centimeters in length. Her body is covered with flexible growths that perform a camouflage function. They sway in the water, similar to seaweed. Against their background, the horse is completely invisible. The fish has a yellow body color, but if necessary, it can change it, masquerading as the color of corals.

We have already drawn your attention to unusual shape the body of the skate, which is covered with shaggy growths that look like algae. Most likely, for this reason he was called a rag picker.

The rag picker's body contains virtually no muscles. Nutrients there is very little in it. Most fish, except stingrays, do not feed on it. But an adult skate has more than enough bones. The shape of the ragpicker is no different from other seahorses. A small head, with an extended muzzle, an arched body. The eyes can move independently of each other.

The skate looks very impressive in the water. That's probably why these Marine life often become residents of home aquariums. The rag picker swims very smoothly. Sometimes it can be mistaken for seaweed floating quietly downstream. It moves with the help of pectoral and dorsal fins, which it quickly swings. The skate swims only in a vertical position. It can swim 150 meters in one minute. At the slightest danger, it hides in the algae and freezes. It can remain in this state for a very long time. To avoid being carried away by the current, the common seahorse grabs the algae with its tail. The rag picker does not have such an ability, and therefore often ends up on the shore, where it is carried away by the sea wave. It cannot live on land and quickly dies there.

The ragpicker seahorse is a predator. It feeds on plankton, small crustaceans, and shrimp. Doesn't give up seaweed. It has no teeth, so food is swallowed whole. To reach plankton, the skate sucks water into its mouth and passes it through its gills. All living beings located at a distance of 4 centimeters from it are filtered out and enter the stomach.

The mating season occurs at the beginning of summer. The female lays about 100 eggs in the tail of the male, where they are fertilized and hatched. After four weeks, the eggs hatch into babies. When entering into a mating relationship, rag pickers perform an original mating dance, during which the color of their bodies changes. Babies are born completely independent and do not need parental care. Not everyone survives to adulthood. Some will die on the shore, some will be eaten by predators. As a rule, no more than 5% of all births survive. A seahorse lives on average 5 years.

Among large number fish there are unique representatives of this class. At first glance, it is not even clear that this is a fish in front of you, however, it is so. In the class of ray-finned fish there is a creature called the rag-picker seahorse, or simply the rag-picker.

It is worth saying that this wonderful and unusual creature looks more like a lace napkin than a rag, and to come up with the name “rag picker” for this creature was somehow too modest! The rag picker is a representative of the order Acicularis, family - Acicularis.

What is so unusual about the appearance of the rag-picker seahorse?

The entire surface of the fish’s body is covered with numerous outgrowths with a soft structure. Outwardly, they look like ribbons blowing in the wind. Therefore, among the algae this animal is completely invisible. But you can admire its beauty endlessly, because the rag-picker seahorse looks more like a decorative figurine than an ordinary fish. This is truly a beautiful underwater creature!

The body length of an adult fish, on average, reaches 35 centimeters. The color of the rag picker varies: yellowish-green, yellow or orange-yellow. The mouth opening resembles a tube. Food enters the body through it. The body and head are connected to each other... by the neck! Do you see this in other fish? There are two very expressive large eyes on the head.

Where does the rag picker live?

This animal is characterized by areas with moderate temperatures, so it can be found in the waters Indian Ocean: near the coast of the Australian continent (more precisely, its southern, southeastern and southwestern parts). In addition, the rag-tailed seahorse lives in the eastern and northern parts of the island of Tasmania (which is an island state of Australia).

The lifestyle and behavior of a rag picker

The natural habitats of this fish are considered Coral reefs and shallow water (up to 20 meters). The water temperature, as mentioned above, should be moderate.

Looking at this creature, it seems that it is harmless and very calm. But beauty is deceiving! The rag-picker seahorse is a real predator! And shrimp become its victims. Due to the lack of teeth, the rag picker cannot separate the caught prey into parts, so it simply swallows it whole into its long tubular mouth. In a whole day, an animal can eat as many as 3,000 shrimp! How gluttonous he turns out to be, this rag picker!

Research by scientists has shown that in conditions wildlife The rag-picker seahorse lives up to four to five years.

What does the rag fish eat?

The main food for these representatives of the needle family is, of course, however, rag pickers eat plankton and small underwater plants. When food enters the rag picker’s mouth, some kind of filtration occurs: water is poured back into environment through the gills, and the food, already filtered, remains in the mouth.

Reproduction of seahorses

The mating season for these fish occurs in the first half of summer. When a female and a male form a pair, they begin a picturesque pair “dance.” Both partners move smoothly and at the same time change their color.

After this, the female lays eggs; there are often about 150 of them in the clutch. And she puts them... no, no, not on algae leaves or even on stones, but on... the male’s tail! Until the birth of the fry, the male ragpicker carries the egg clutch on himself.

After a month (sometimes two months), fry appear that are capable of independent life immediately after hatching. In my own way appearance They look like adults, but they are quite defenseless, and their parents have already left them and no longer protect them. Therefore, a very small percentage of fry survive to adulthood.

Human use

Ragfish seahorses are captured primarily for placing in aquariums. But too frequent catching of these fish has led to the fact that their population began to decline sharply, so they are taken under protection, and their official catching is prohibited by law.