Experience Cambodia’s First-Ever Seahorse Showcase

Angkor Wildlife & Aquarium's special exhibit to see seahorses up close and learn about their habitat, behaviour, and conservation challenges in Siem Reap province. Photo: AWA

SIEM REAP - Explore the world of seahorses at Angkor Wildlife & Aquarium. These unique creatures are vital to marine ecosystems, with male seahorses even carrying and protecting their young. Visit AWA special exhibit to see seahorses up close and learn about their habitat, behaviour, and conservation challenges.

Visit and support AWA’s rescue and rehabilitation efforts, inspiring the next generation of conservationists. Learn more about the special nature of seahorses below:



The Physique of Seahorses

Seahorses have an equine appearance. Its head is at right angles to the body. They also have a fully prehensile tail, and their eyes can swivel independently of each other.

Like other fish, they breathe through gills, extracting oxygen from the water that passes over them. However, their gills are small and compacted, almost like a grape in structure.

Another unique feature that is different from other fish species is the lack of scales. Instead, they have a thin layer of skin stretching over a series of bony plates, appearing as rings around the trunk.

Some species also have bony bumps or skin filaments protruding from the rings. These rings are useful in species identification.

Besides the rings, we can also identify the species with their coronet, which is a crown-like group of spines on the top of the head.

Certain seahorse species even have special cheek spines, which are another identifying feature.

Although a seahorse has a horse-like head, bony-plated body and prehensile tail, it is actually a fish.

Diagram provided by AWA

Seahorses are from the genus Hippocampus, and belong to the family Syngnathidae. Their close relatives include the pipefish, pipehorses and seadragons.

Out of the 32 known seahorse species around the world, we have identified six species in our study areas, namely H. Spinosissimus, H. Kuda, H. Histrix, H. Trimaculatus, H. Kelloggi and H. Comes.

We also suspect the presence of two additional species, H. Barbouri and H. Monhikei.

Lab and aquarium observations have shown that small seahorse species have a lifespan of about a year, while larger species live to 3-5 years.

Where and how Seahorses Live in Cambodia

In Cambodia, our seahorses live in coastal waters between the depths of one and 30 meters. They favour sheltered environments such as seagrass beds, rocky reefs, mangroves, sandy bottoms and coral reefs.

Seahorses are most common in sheltered environments where the current is weak.

One reason is that they are poor swimmers and only swim when necessary. They are propelled by a quickly oscillating dorsal fin and use pectoral fins on either side of the body for steering and stability.

Most of the time, they use their tail to fasten themselves to seagrass stems, corals, sticks, or any other suitable natural or artificial object.

They also rely on camouflage – with changing colours and growing skin filaments – to blend in with their surroundings. This helps avoid detection by predators.

How Seahorses Eat

Seahorses are predators but have no stomach or teeth. They feed by sucking in prey through a tubular snout and then pass it through an inefficient digestive system.

They feed on fish fry, amphipods and other invertebrates that are small enough to fit into their snout.

They will sit and wait at the same spot, while scanning for prey. Once the prey comes close enough, the seahorse will suck them in rapidly using their long snout

How Seahorses Reproduce

Seahorses have an unusual mode of reproduction: the male is the one that gets pregnant. This is one of the most extreme forms of parental care by the male.

Once a male reaches sexual maturity, he develops a brood pouch and is able to become pregnant anytime during the breeding season. The timing of the breeding season is probably dependent on water temperature, monsoon and the lunar cycle. In most seahorse species, the male and female are pair-bonded (i.e. monogamy) during the entire breeding season.

Diagram provided by AWA

When a pair is ready to reproduce, the female deposits her eggs into the male’s brood pouch with the help of her ovipositor. The male then fertilises the eggs, embeds them in the pouch wall, and envelopes them with tissue.

From this moment, the pouch functions like the womb of a female mammal. The fluid in the pouch is similar to placental fluid, where it bathes the eggs, provides oxygen and nutrients, and helps remove waste products. In short, the pouch helps reduce the stress of the offspring at birth.

The pregnancy can last between two and four weeks, with shorter duration under higher temperatures. During this period, the female would come and “greet” the male daily. The pair would change colour, promenade and pirouette together for several minutes. After the daily greeting, they then go their separate ways for the rest of the day.

Diagram provided by AWA

At the end of gestation period, the male will finally go into labour, which is usually at night. He will pump and thrust for hours to release all his brood. Each brood has about 100-200 individuals, but can be as low as 5 or up to 1,500 depending on the species. The newborns usually range from seven to 12mm, and look just like the miniature version of the adult seahorses. From this point, the newborns receive no further parental care and have to survive on their own.

A few hours after the male has given birth, he is ready to become pregnant again. The pair will engage in courtship behaviour – which looks like an extended version of their daily greetings – for up to nine hours.

This content is referred to by Marine Conservation Cambodia.

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