Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

Get Adobe Flash player
 

  • Nederlands
  • Deutsch
Search in the Encyclopedia
  • Dut: Langsnuitzeepaardje (klein zeepaardje)
  • Lat: Hippocampus ramulosus, Hippocampus guttulatus
  • Eng: (common) sea horse
  • Ger: Seepferdchen
  • Dan: Søhest
  • Dut: Kortsnuitzeepaardje
  • Lat: Hippocampus hippocampus
  • Eng: Short-snouted sea horse
  • Ger: Kurzschnäuziges Seepferdchen
print print
Sea horse, johan krol

Sea horse

Sea horses are related to the pipefish. This strange fish, no longer than 15 centimeters, lives between eelgrass and seaweed, which it grips with its tail. Sea horses eat mainly small crustaceans and fish larvae. The eggs of sea horses are carried by the males in a pouch. Sea horses live mostly in the Mediterranean Sea, but have found more often in recent years in the Wadden Sea as well.

  • Sea horses in the Wadden Sea
    Sea horse, foto fitis, sytske dijksen

    There have only been a few reports of sea horses in the Wadden Sea. In May and June 2007, shrimp fishermen caught two sea horses shortly one after the other. They were delivered alive to the Nature Center on Ameland. In 1998, a fisherman from Texel caught a sea horse which was released again after a photo session with the local press. At the end of July 2000, a shrimp fishing boat from Terschelling caught a sea horse in the Wadden Sea. The catch was donated to the natural history museum on the island. Since then, sea horses have been caught more often in the Wadden Sea.

  • Sea horses in the North Sea
    Sea horse, foto fitis, sytske dijksen

    In the North Sea, two to thirty sea horses are caught per year. In those cases, it is usually the common sea horse, but since 2002 the short-snouted sea horse is being caught more often as well.

  • Magazine

    The news letter from the Dutch Beach Workgroup, called the Zeepaard ('Sea horse'), has been named after this unusual animal.