Leafy seadragon, Phycodurus eques, in dark blue water of Australia.
This beautiful, spectacular marine fish is found around the coastal waters of Australia. The leafy sea dragon is a close relative to seahorses and pipefish. The body attachments serve the purpose of camouflage as the sea dragons live close to sea grass areas and drift motionless within them to hide from predators. Sea dragons can reach a size up to 24 cm. Their diet consists of small zooplankton, larval fishes and smaller crustaceans. Maturity is reached at the age of 2 years. During the mating process transfers the female about 250 eggs into the breeding pouch of the male, which is responsible for breeding the offspring. Eight weeks later the brood hatches. Sadly only about 5% will survive till they reach maturity. Leafy seadragons are protected by law and their trade is generally prohibited.
Size: 5449px × 3622px
Photo credit: © Malcolm Ross / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: actinopterygii, animalia, australia, black, blue, body, breeding, camouflage, chordata, close, close-, coast, coastal, dive, dragon, elongated, eye, face, female, fish, fishes, horse, leafy, male, marine, mouth, night, ocean, orange, phycodurus, pipefish, plankton, portrait, pouch, ray-finned, reef, sea, seadragon, syngnathidae, syngnathiformes, syngnathinae, vertebrate, water, waters, weed, zooplankton
