First Seahorse of 2008!

We´ve found our first seahorse of the season! 

Rory (one of our Divemasters) found a beautiful yellow seahorse hiding amogst the seagrass at Portal Vells on Tuesday of last week.

Seahorse FACTS:

Seahorses swim in a vertical position and have 3 fins that often move in unison and can beat up to 60 times a second. The main defence mechanism of a seahorse is camouflage and it´s ability to change colour. The seahorse has a long tail which, contrary to popular belief, is curled towards the stomach not the back and is usually coiled around some seagrass or coral. Seahorses eat only live food which they pick out of passing plankton and unique to every other species on Earth it is the male seahorse that carries the young in its brood pouch!!

Did you know that in Medieval times seahorses dipped in wine were thought to be a terrible poison that was fed to condemned prisoners?

Seahorses are often used in oriental medicine to cure illness and in various parts of the world are thought to be an aphrodisiac!