Amazing nature #49 - The sea dragons

in #nature6 years ago

Hi Steemit family!

The sea is one of the largest and least explored by humans, they have barely managed to descend with divers in non-specialized suits to a depth of 300 meters in the best case can descend a submarine type submersible, has been able to reach the depths of the Challenger abyss of 11.034 meters deep, this is because as the body descends into the water the pressure against the body increases, putting at risk the oxygenation of the body, if we go down more than 300 meters deep, our body would literally fill with oxygen bubbles and explode.


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Today we will approach the life of a very beautiful organism, it is a family of seahorses - Syngnathidae, they are sea dragons, their body is elongated, they have rings in series, their maximum length is 30 cm long, only on very rare occasions there are species that can surpass 100 cm up to 200 cm long, they do not have teeth and their mouth is elongated, which ends in a perfect tube, which they use perfectly to feed themselves.


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One of the best-known species is ruby sea dragons, common sea dragons and foliar sea dragons, which we will try to focus on in this publication. The foliage has the ability to mimic themselves so as not to be detected by their main predators, which is why parts of their bodies resemble foliage of marine leaves. Like seahorses, sea dragons are extremely fragile.


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Their habitat is found in warm waters of Australia in the south, this is their favorite area, bone is endemic to southern Australia.

The sea dragons can move in the water thanks to its pectoral fin, located in the crest of the neck, adding a dorsal fin that is located near its tail. They are transparent that are impossible to see when they move, so the sea dragon can move stealthily without attracting attention.


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Their reproduction is fascinating, the male like the seahorses take care of their offspring, in their tail, they have an area with spongy cavities where the female deposits the eggs, this act takes place while they are mating. This means that the eggs are fertilized at the same time they are passed to the female, for their subsequent hatching that will last up to a month between the months of October and March the sea dragons are concerned about raising the new members and in just 2 years manage to reach their adult size.


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As we have seen, sea dragons are simply beautiful, but have something against being so tiny, suffer attacks from fishermen who can not visualize them. The only salvation is to evaluate the fishing in its only site, being endemic, cannot be taken to other areas, because they would die quickly. Unfortunately, the money produced by the fish, a juicy business of millions of dollars worldwide, does not understand that trawling has gradually finished the biodiversity of one of the sites that we have been least able to explore.


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Only a few species have managed to survive in captivity in some aquariums in Australia and the United States, but this is almost impossible to do as they are extremely prized and being protected just past the bureaucratic walls is a real headache, the final solution is to prohibit their habitat definitively, creating a special zone.


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Thank you for reading


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I Love sea dragons !!!! They are absolutely magical 😍❤️🌈🍀🌴🦋

So neat 👏

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nice article girl like it

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