About Potbellied Seahorses
Potbellied seahorses are unique marine animals with extremely large abdomens, a grasping tail and a horse-like head. Rather than scales, seahorses are covered with bony plates and have markings across their heads and bodies in brown, yellow, grey, white and orange. These markings serve as camouflage and allow seahorses to blend in with their surroundings. Seahorses can change color to camouflage themselves, or to react to other seahorses or their environment.
Most seahorses mate for life. Every morning mates will find each other, change colors and dance together for roughly ten minutes. After that, the couple parts ways and do not see each other for the rest of the day. They repeat this dance every morning. When breeding, females supply eggs to the males, who incubate them in their abdominal pouch. When the young are released they look like miniature replicas of adults. Males carry the eggs for roughly one month before they hatch. Seahorses can hatch more than 700 babies at a time. Juveniles are born totally independent and will often grab on to seagrass or macroalgae to help them disperse.
Pot-Bellied Seahorse at the Akron Zoo
Potbellied seahorses can be found in Curious Creatures, located inside the Akron Zoo’s Komodo Kingdom building.