The Sea Dragon

Creatures from the sea have always fascinated me. Here is one of my favorites! Please send me an e-mail regarding your thoughts on this topic.



In the waters off southern Australia lives the sea dragon, a delicate fish that looks just like a torn piece of floating seaweed. Sea dragons have many elaborate, leafy extensions on their bodies, colored and shaped very much like the algae in which they lurk. They can grow up to 45 centimeters (18 inches) long. The sea dragon is a predator. It waits patiently among the weeds without moving. When a tiny shrimp or other swimming creature comes close, it suddenly sucks it into its snout. Sea dragons are related to sea horses and pipe fish. Like them, they practice reverse brooding: the female leaves the eggs she lays on the body of the male, who then cares for them until the young hatch.



Underwater World Perth

Leafy Seadragons

Resembling a piece of drifting weed, and hanging almost motionless in the water, the seadragon is a spectacularly camouflaged creature. Named after the dragons of Chinese legend, these entrancing animals are true bony fish.

Both species of seadragon - the 'weedy' (or common) and the more ornate 'leafy' - are found only in southern Australian waters. During mating, the female seadragon will deposit as many as 250 eggs onto the underside of the male's tail in an area known as the brood patch. The eggs are fertilised and protected in cup-like indentations for up to 8 weeks before hatching.

The fully developed young hatch over a period of several days, dispersing over a wide area. Many of the juvenile seadragons will fall prey to anemones, hydroids and crabs. Adult seadragons grow to approximately 45cm. They have no teeth or stomach and feed on small shrimps.

Leafy seadragons are a protected species in Western Australia and South Australia.



Two species of seadragons occur in southern Australia, the "common" or Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus (figure 1) and the Leafy Seadragon, Phycodurus eques (figure 2). Both species resemble floating pieces of seaweed which can make them difficult to find in their natural habitat. Figure 1. A Weedy Seadragon. Weedy Seadragons are endemic to (ie. they are found only in) southern Australian waters. Adult 'Weedies' grow to about 46 centimetres in length.

Figure 2. The Leafy Seadragon is endemic to South Australia and parts of Western Australia. Adult 'Leafies' grow to about 30 centimetres. The 'leaves' on the Leafy Seadragon are more numerous and branching than on 'Weedies' and look distinctly like blades of brown seaweed. 'Leafies' have several long sharp spines along the sides of the body. Divers have observed seadragons 'curling up', presenting these spines to attacking fish.

Seadragons are 'protected' under most state's fisheries legislation. There is, however, virtually no information on population size, status and the legal and illegal take. This makes sensible management of these fish virtually impossible. The pressure for international trade in seahorses, pipefish for the aquarium and Asian "medicine" trade is expanding.




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