Phycodurus eques, Leafy Sea Dragon [+]
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Actinopterygii
Order Gasterosteiformes
Family Syngnathidae
Genus Phycodurus
species: Phycodurus eques [+ITIS +WoRMS]
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Description & Behavior
The leafy sea dragon, Phycodurus eques (Günther, 1865), aka leafy seadragon or Glauert's seadragon, get their common names from the leaf-like appendages on the body. The leafy sea dragon has more of the leaf-like appendages on the body than the closely-related weedy sea dragon. Both species resemble floating pieces of seaweed which makes them difficult for predators to find in their natural habitat. They reach a total length of 35 cm.
World Range & Habitat
These superbly camouflaged fishes are only found in Australia's temperate waters. This species has only been recorded from the southern coastline of Australia, from Kangaroo Island, South Australia to Rottnest Island, Western Australia. These fishes live over sand patches among kelp-covered rocks below the low tide line in depths from about 3-50 m.
Feeding Behavior (Ecology)
The leafy sea dragon, Phycodurus eques, has a long pipe-like snout with a small terminal mouth. It feeds on plankton, mysids and other small crustaceans. One of the most spectacular examples of camouflage: neither prey nor predators recognize it as a fish.
Life History
Unlike seahorses, sea dragons do not have a pouch for rearing the young. Instead, the male carries the eggs fixed to the underside of his tail from where they eventually hatch. When male sea dragons are ready to receive eggs from the female, the lower half of the tail on the male appears wrinkled. During mating, the female lays 100-250 eggs onto a special 'brood patch' on the underside of the male's tail, where they are attached and fertilized. This brood patch, consisting of cups of blood-rich tissue each holding one egg, and is specifically developed by the male for use during the breeding season of August-March. The bright pink eggs become embedded in the cups of the brood patch, receiving oxygen via the cups' blood vessels. During each breeding season, male leafy sea dragons will hatch two batches of eggs. After a period of about 4-6 weeks from conception, the male 'gives birth' to miniature juvenile versions of sea dragons. As soon as a baby sea dragon leaves the safety of its father's tail, it is independent and receives no further help from its parents. For 2-3 days after birth, the baby sea dragons are sustained by their yolk sac. After this, they hunt small zooplankton, such as copepods and rotifers, until large enough to hunt juvenile mysids. Sea dragons grow to a length of 20 cm after one year, reaching their mature length at two years. In the wild, young sea dragons are preyed upon by other fish, crustaceans and evn sea anemones. Young sea dragons look more delicate, and are often differently colored than adults, and may hide in different types of seaweeds.
Conservation Status/Additional Comments
The leafy sea dragon is a rare sight and a very fragile creature. Handling of any sort is discouraged due to the likelihood of injuring this animal. It does seem to enjoy having it's picture taken though.
Leafy sea dragons, Phycodurus eques, are listed as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species:
NEAR THREATENED (NT)
A taxon is Near Threatened when it has been evaluated against the criteria but does not qualify for Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable now, but is close to qualifying for or is likely to qualify for a threatened category in the near future.
References & Further Research
BioOne ~ CITES ~ Discover Life ~ GBIF ~ Google Scholar ~ ITIS ~ IUCN RedList ~ MarineBio Network ~ NCBI ~ SCIRIS ~ SIRIS ~ Tree of Life Web Project ~ Wikipedia
Australian Museum Fish Site
Seadragons of Sydney [click here for video - 11MB] - see more at Divegallery.com
Search the Web for Leafy Sea Dragon » ARKive ~ Ask.com ~ Ask Jeeves ~ bing ~ deviantART ~ dmoz ~ Dogpile ~ Google Images ~ MySpace Images ~ OceanFootage ~ Picsearch ~ StumbleUpon ~ Yahoo! Images ~ YouTube
