Science knows of almost 50 different seahorse species throughout the world.
- Seahorses, unlike most fish, do not have scales. Instead, they have bony plates beneath their thin skins.
- The oldest fossil of a seahorse is a distant relative found in Slovenia that is estimated to be about 13 million years old.
- In traditional Chinese herbology, dried seahorses are considered an aphrodisiac and good for kidney problems. The seahorses are dried and ground into powders which can then be placed in pill forms.
- In seahorses, it is the male that actually carries the fertilized eggs to gestation.
- The number of young seahorses who are born from each father varies upon the size and species of seahorse. Some seahorses only expel a half dozen or so baby seahorses, while the larger species can expel as many as 1,500 baby seahorses.
- Seahorses generally eat small shrimp or other small crustaceans. They have been known to diet on extremely small fish at times.
- Wild seahorses do not fare well in captivity. Disease is one culprit, but wild seahorses are also thought to be under immense stress when limited to their surroundings. However, seahorses bred in captivity fare much better.
- Dried seahorses on a stick are not uncommon foods to be found in China as street food.
- The slowest moving fish in the world is the dwarf seahorse, two inches long, which reportedly only swims approximately five feet per hour.
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