Sea Dragon

True Wild Life | Sea Dragon | The sea dragon is a small, delicate fish found in the tropical coastal waters of south and west Australia. Sea dragons look similar to and are in fact closely related to sea horses. There are two different species of sea dragon which are the leafy sea dragon and the weedy sea dragon. Although both sea dragon species have a similar body shape and size, they are very different in appearance.

The leafy sea dragon is the master of camouflage, and being able to hide itself so easily amongst the plants means that the leafy sea dragon is rarely eaten, despite having numerous potential predators in the surrounding water. The weedy sea dragon does not look so elaborate, only having a few feather fins along its back. The weedy sea dragon has adapted to life on the sea bed as these feathery (weed-like) fins help the sea dragon to camouflage into the debris on the sea floor.

Despite their small size, sea dragons are carnivorous animals and therefore have a purely meat-based diet. The sea dragon uses its pipe-like snout to suck its prey into its oddly tooth-less mouth. Sea dragons hunt crustaceans, plankton, shrimp and even small fish, using their camouflage to their advantage. Sea dragons have numerous natural predators in the south and western coastal waters of Australia but are rarely even spotted to the elaborate camouflage of the sea dragon. Those few sea dragons that are unlucky enough to be found, are usually spotted by large fish.

As with sea horses, it is the male sea dragon who care for the eggs once they have been laid by the female. The female lays around 250 eggs onto the long tail onto the long tail of the male sea horse. The eggs of the sea dragon can take up to 9 weeks to hatch and remain in the care of the male sea dragon at all times. The baby sea dragons are completely independent once they have hatched and feed on tiny nutritious particles in the water. It can take up to a year for the sea dragon babies to be nearly the size of the adult sea dragons.

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Leafy Sea Dragon

True Wild Life | Leafy Sea Dragon | Sea Dragons are arguably the most spectacular and mysterious of all ocean fish. Though close relatives of sea horses, sea dragons have larger bodies and leaf-like appendages which enable them to hide among floating seaweed or kelp beds. Sea dragons feed on larval fishes and amphipods, such as and small shrimp-like crustaceans called mysids ("sea lice"), sucking up their prey in their small mouths. Many of these amphipods feed on the red algae that thrives in the shade of the kelp forests where the sea dragons live.

As with their smaller common seahorse (and pipefish) cousins, the male sea dragon carries and incubates the eggs until they hatch. During mating the female deposits up to 250 eggs onto the "brood patch" on the underside of the male's tail. After about eight weeks, the brood hatches, but in nature only about 5 per cent of sea dragons survive to maturity (two years). A fully grown Leafy Sea Dragon grows to about 18 inches (45 cm).

Leafy Sea Dragons are very interesting to watch-- the leafy appendages are not used for movement. The body of a sea dragon scarcely appears to move at all. Steering and turning is through movement of tiny, translucent fins along the sides of the head (pectoral fins, visible above) and propulsion derives from the dorsal fins (along the spine). Their movement is as though an invisible hand were helping, causing them to glide and tumble in peculiar but graceful patterns in slow-motion. This movement appears to mimic the swaying movements of the seaweed and kelp. Only close observation reveals movement of an eye or tiny fins.

Most sources of information about sea dragons say they are found in the ocean waters of southern Western Australia, South Australia and further east along the coastline of Victoria province, Australia.  Sea dragons are protected under Australian law, and their export is strictly regulated. A 1996 assessment by the Australian government's Department of Environmental Heritage indicates "It [the Leafy Sea Dragon] is now completely protected in South Australia because demand for aquarium specimens threatened the species with extinction." Currently the specific law which protects them is called the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.  For a February 2002 updated overview of the leafy sea dragon, see this page from the Department of Environmental Heritage site.

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