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fins: for swimming, not for grabbing
image: Gunaxin
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Picture a fin on a fish. Not the best grabbing apparatus around, but, then again, fish don't really need to grab things, as they live in a 3-dimensional space with a
swim bladder to maintain their vertical position.
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stonefish waiting for the next victim |
Some, like stonefish or scorpion fish, live on the bottom and nab prey as it swims by.
Seahorses, which I really enjoyed learning about while researching how and why they
evolved their curvy S-shaped body and long thin horse-like head, function similarly, except they hang onto objects both on the ground and in the water column.
The trick is in their tails: they are prehensile, meaning they can grab and hold onto things, such as seagrass, seaweed, or coral.
Like the monkeys that eat fruit while hanging from a tree branch, seahorses can hold on to vegetation with their tails and grab passing mini-shrimp called copepods with their mouths at the ends of those weird long snouts.
But there is more that is very cool, and unique, about seahorses, these weird and wonderful fish.