Seahorses live in tropical or temperate seagrass beds, coral reefs, mangroves, and estuaries across the Atlantic from Nova Scotia to South America. In coral reefs, seahorses live in typically tropic or subtropic oceans, in shallow areas of water. Seahorses live in a coral reef, so they live amongst corals, and small animals such as plankton, and coralline algae is common amongst most coral reefs. Plankton are tiny animals that live in warm shallow waters, the revolutionary advantage that keeps plankton alive is that they reproduce faster then they can be consumed by predators. Coral are plant-like animals, they stay in one place, they eat plankton and get some of their energy from the Sun. Coralline algae grows on the Coral and other parts of Coral Reefs, as the water is warm and receives a high amount of sunlight. The biggest issue facing coral reefs is that coral reefs are dying; overfishing, pollution, and coral mining are causes of the decay of coral reefs. General protection of coral reefs will help prevent their decay and death, this would entail limiting the amount of pollution entering the reefs, and the prevention of overfishing. Seahorses do not seem to have a specific niche, they are secondary consumers who eat small animals, seahorses' main purpose in life is just to reproduce. Seahorses are interesting in that the males will receive an egg from a female where it is fertilized and incubated in a pouch on the male seahorse. The general food web of seahorses is something like what is shown in the following image
Tuna are known to eat seahorses during the times of year when food is scarce and seahorses are easily preyed on as they are not strong swimmers and lack natural defenses. There does not appear to be a niche overlap, just predation of a species.
Works Cited:
"Seahorse Facts." Seahorse Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
"Basic Facts About Coral Reefs." Defenders of Wildlife. N.p., 01 May 2012. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
"Ecological Niche." Lined Seahorse. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
"Seahorse Predators." Seahorse Facts and Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
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ReplyDeleteThis post is complete. It has everything it is supposed to. It gives good facts about the seahorse and it's biome, and problems that the seahorses are facing. The only problem is that the solution could be more detailed. Other than that it is very good and well written.
ReplyDeleteWhy thanks, buddy. To answer your criticism - coral reef decay is very serious, yet the fix is easy. The fixes are pretty simple though, the coral reefs are decaying and being ruined mainly by humans effecting the ecosystem - so by reducing negative human interaction with the coral reefs, and protecting it - the ecosystems will hopefully heal over time and there will be no need for anything more drastic. It'd be much like a state park, you can come and hang out, but you can't pollute or harm the ecosystem in anyway.
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