Piny the Elder (A.D. 23-79) named the sea horse “hippus,” Today the generic name of the seahorse has been retained. Hippocampus mans horse-caterpillar.

The alleged medicinal properties range from a supposed aphrodisiac effect when used in a love potion to more prosaic uses as a cure for baldness and pains in the side; or when a living sea horse has been dipped into oil of roses, for chills and fever.

There are approximately two dozen species of seahorses. Seahorses are strictly marine in habitat.

The female actually deposits the eggs in the brood pouch of the male, who, in turn, incubates them for a minimum of eight to ten days

The jackknife contortions of the male seahorse, not to mention the female’s depositing eggs in the males brood pouch, are rarely observed..

In watching seahorses one will be impressed by the independent movement of the eyes, one eye may be looking in one direction and the other roving elsewhere.

Since they are unable to move rapidly enough to chase their prey, they have had to develop their own method of capture. This secret weapon consists of a netlike suction of pinpoint accuracy. A brine shrimp or other planktonic organism swimming with the 1 ½ inch range of the elongated snout is sucked into the opened mouth so rapidly that the observer cannot follow the movement of the hapless creature.