Thorny Seahorse

Photo: Tsu Soo Tan · CC BY-NC

Thorny seahorses at Teluk Dalam hold station on sea whips and soft coral branches using their prehensile tails, swivelling their tubular snouts to ambush tiny crustaceans passing in the current. As ambush predators with no stomach, they must feed almost continuously to survive, consuming hundreds of copepods per day. Their monogamous pair bonds mean resident individuals are often found in the same metre-square territory across multiple dives and across seasons.