Today I painted this seahorse. I decided to bring out my neo color 2 crayons for this used a bit of gouache for it as well and sprinkled a bit of shiny watercolor in it to finish it off. Tomorrow today I’ve been painting the fourth one as I decided to post each one the day after I’ve done them whilst I am doing these daily posts this week.
A sneak peek at the seahorse I am working on today (tomorrow blog post the big-bellied seahorse)
2 facts about seahorses
5. Seahorses are terrible swimmers, but they love to catch a free ride
When you think of a horse, it’s usually an image of one running wild and free across a field, mane blowing in the wind – so it would make sense for a seahorse to have some serious swimming skills, right?
But this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, the dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus zosterae) holds the title of being the slowest fish in the sea.
This is largely due to their bulky bodies and their unusual fin arrangement. Unlike most fish, seahorses rely on just one small dorsal fin on their back for propulsion and tiny pectoral fins at the side of their heads for steering.
The spiny seahorse (Hippocampus histrix), also referred to as the thorny seahorse, is a small marine fish in the family Syngnathidae, native to the Indo-Pacific area. It is classified as a Vulnerable species by the IUCN.
The spiny seahorse is a small fish that can reach a maximum length of 15–17 cm.[3][4]
The body is slender, elongated and completely covered with thorns. These are sharp with dark tips, and uniformly sized on the prehensile tail. The trunk has long thorns which continue until the coronet, which has 4–5. The head is also provided with numerous spines especially on the forehead, the base of the cheeks, the nose and above the eyes. The snout is very long and tapered. Body coloration is highly variable to match surroundings and goes from grey to cream, and from bright yellow, to green or red and even brownish. It can be plain or with different pattern on the side or/and on the backside. The snout is generally striped with one or more thin white lines.[3But seahorses have developed a cunning way to get themselves from A to B, despite their goofy shapes, and it’s all in the tails. By wrapping their tails around bits of passing debris, or even certain animals, seahorses are able to catch free rides to all their favourite feeding, mating and hiding spots – as long as the current’s going in the right direction!
6. Seahorses don’t have stomachs, but they have big appetites
Surprisingly, seahorses can snap up prey, like copepods and tiny crustaceans, in a matter of milliseconds. But how does something so slow eat so quickly?
It’s all down to the neck – seahorses use their mighty neck tendons, combined with an upward thrusting movement, to get their snouts close to their prey in an instant. But this isn’t just a top-notch snacking strategy, it’s actually an essential seahorse survival mechanism.
Seahorses lack teeth, so they inhale their food through their snouts. It then passes through their digestive system so quickly that seahorses have to eat almost constantly to satisfy their appetites – on average, adults feed 30–50 times per day and baby seahorses can consume an astonishing 3,000 pieces of food per day!
Information sources [ Wikipedia]
Ennayelsel 