By Dawn Watson
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, theoretically it should be a duck. But what if it looks like a tiny alligator that mated with a horse, and resembles a fish dancing on a pogo stick?
Then it is the Hippocampus genus of fish belonging to the Syngnathidae family—or what is commonly known as a sea horse, the duck-billed platypus of the marine world. The Greek word “hippocampus” is actually derived from two words meaning “horse” and “sea monster.”
Little is known about the sea horse, though researchers at the Stony Brook Southampton Marine Sciences Research Center say they are trying to do their part to change that. Richard McIntyre, director of the research center that overlooks Shinnecock Bay, said his group has been studying the biorhythms of the mythological-looking fish that can be found in local waters for the past several years. Researchers have even been able to breed sea horses in captivity, a difficult feat due to their fragility and environmental sensitivity.
Mr. McIntyre said he first became interested in the creatures while conducting other research work on Shinnecock Bay. Sea horses are typically found in tropical waters off the coast of Mexico, Australia and Central America, though they have also been found as far north as Cape Cod. “We would catch them in our nets, so we decided to see what we could learn about them,” Mr. McIntyre said.
Larry Liddle, a professor emeritus from the LIU program before it was taken over by Stony Brook last year, still enjoys visitor status at the Shinnecock Hills campus. He said the research program conducted by the marine science facility has been very successful in maintaining the saltwater sea horses over long periods of time. He recalled observing them hatch in one of the center’s tanks several years ago.
“It’s an unusual event, because it is the male of the species that delivers the young,” Mr. Liddle said. Sea horses and pipe fish, which are close relatives, are the only species in which the male becomes “pregnant,” according to Brooke Rodgers, a graduate student at the Marine Sciences Research Center.
“The female inserts her eggs into the male’s brood pouch, which the male then fertilizes and carries for about two to three weeks before giving birth,” Ms. Rodgers said. “Sea horses also tend to be monogamous, which is very rare in marine creatures.”
Sea horses are perilously close to being listed as an endangered species in some areas of the world due to overfishing, according to an article published by Dr. Amanda Vincent. She is a sea horse expert and co-founder and director of Project Sea Horse, an international and interdisciplinary marine conservation organization based at the Fisheries Centre at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
The creatures are typically used in traditional Chinese herbology, and as many as 20 million of them are caught each year and used for this purpose. They are also collected for aquarium displays and because of their unusual appearance. In addition, their numbers are on the decline due to the degradation of their habitats by pollution and dredging.
The chameleons of the sea can change color to better blend in with their background, according to experts. Sea horses then wait for encrusting organisms to settle on them and feed using small mouths that are located at the end of their tubular snouts. Though they have no teeth, sea horses can consume up to 3,000 brine shrimp a day.
The sea creatures range in size from about one inch, the typical size of the dwarf sea horse or Hippocampus zosterae, to more than a foot, as with Pacific sea horses, also known as Hippocampus ingens, according to published studies. The largest of the sea horses are typically found in the Pacific Ocean, off the western coast of Central America.
In addition to the Pacific and dwarf sea horses, two other species are typically found in North and Central American waters. The Hippocampus reidi, also known as the Brazilian long-snout, is found in the coral reefs of the Caribbean and the species turns fluorescent neon colors as it “dances.” The Hippocampus erectus, commonly called the lined sea horse, is a chunky sea horse that can be found from Cape Cod south to the Gulf of Mexico. Researchers are now studying four lined sea horses at the Stony Brook Southampton campus.
Researchers at the Marine Sciences Research Center say they will continue to study the creatures as long as they are able to catch them and keep them alive in captivity. Though they have only four sea horses at the facility right now, researchers have been able to keep more than 20 on hand at one time in the past.
In addition to sea horses, researchers are also studying the life cycles of other local marine species, including pipe fish, skates, crevalle jacks, sea urchins, starfish and spider crabs.
The Marine Sciences Research Center has been operating continuously for 37 years and is known as one of the premier marine studies programs on the East Coast, according to David Conover, the dean of the marine science program at Stony Brook Southampton. The State University of New York at Stony Brook completed its purchase of the 82-acre campus, which includes 42 buildings, from Long Island University in October 2005. The purchase was completed using $35 million in state funding.
