skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
This dragon is one of the most incredibly camouflaged
animals of the sea. The leafy
sea dragon, Phycodurus eques, or commonly called Glauert’s
sea dragon, is in the same family as sea horses and pipefishes. They aren’t too terribly large, only growing
to about 14 inches. The leafy sea dragons are only
found in certain areas. They are all over southern Australia, but are
known to be from Geraldton in Western Australia, which is where its name comes
from, to the Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria. They
tend to live in shallower rocky reefs, seaweed beds, sea grass meadows, and
structures primarily composed of seaweeds, hence, their intricate camouflage. Their bodies are covered
with many leaf-like appendages.
These leaf-like appendages are extremely realistic. In fact, they are so realistic that many animals and organisms swarm
to it for shelter and food because it just looks so real. Their many realistic
seaweed-like appendages are not used in propulsion for swimming. They are only
used as a camouflage mechanism and thus, cause this sea dragon to be quite
difficult to find in its natural habitat. The leafy sea dragon also comes in a
variety of colors which all are
dependent upon location, diet, and age. They can range anywhere from
yellowish-brown to green, or any typical algae coloration. In addition, another defense mechanism is that
they are covered in jointed plates instead of your typical scale. They also
have sharp spines that line their bodies. With the combination of the intense camouflage,
plates, and spines, they do an outstanding job at avoiding predation. In fact,
they may not even have any serious type of natural predator. Their only
downfall is that they are slow movers, so they heavily rely on
their camouflage as a primary key defense mechanism against predators. Their little dorsal and pectoral fins do not provide
strong swimming; rather they cause the leafy sea dragon to swim awkwardly. Thus, this sea dragon kind of bounces, tumbles, and drifts along in the
water. These fins are also transparent meaning their predators cannot
see them. Again, this is just another thing that
allows these sea dragons to be so well camouflaged. Even the way the swim is
seaweed-like! Now that’s incog- NEATO!!
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/sea-dragon/
That is so cool! The camouflage would definitely be an advantage because they are such slow swimmers. What type of animals eat this unique creature? The predators would have to adapt to see the camouflage; so it would be interesting to see the change in predators over time.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good point and it would be rather interesting. I did read, however, that right now, there are very few known predators (if any) of this sea dragon simply because with the combination of the extreme camouflage, hard plate, and spines, it makes for one pretty invincible creature of the sea.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post. It made me wonder how many things have adapted for survival and protection, and lead me to question how many things in the oceans I have traveled too, how many organisms have been present but I would not know due to camouflage and other adaptions. Crazy what some animals can do, I wish we could adapt like this, hah.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really 'neat' post. These little guys sure do seem nearly invincible due to their hard plates and spines. It's probably a good idea they have so much protection, along with camouflage for the fact they are poor swimmers. However, I think the camouflage seems a bit of a down fall if there are animals that try to feed on them, as you mentioned earlier in the post.
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing these at the Pittsburgh Zoo for the first time. They blended in with their habitat so well that I would only spot a few. They're absolutely fascinating creatures!
ReplyDelete