The leafy seadragons (Phycodurus eques) are dappled with green, orange, yellow, and gold colors, and have evolved a clever mimicry: its leaf-like protrusions resemble a section of the seaweeds that permeate the ocean waters of Australia’s southern and western coastlines. It uses its transparent pectoral fin to move through the waters.
The leafy seadragon is a close relative to the sea-horse (and even closer to the weedy seadragon); like the sea-horse, the female’s eggs (numbering approximately 100 – 250) are cared for by the male. The male leafy seadragons do not have a pouch like the sea-horse, but carry the eggs in a brood patch beneath the tail where they are supplied with oxygen until they hatch.
The sea dragons do not have teeth or a stomach, and they live on a diet of plankton, mysidopsis shrimp, and other crustaceans. They are, in turn, consumed by anemones, crabs and hydroids.
They are fragile and should be left in their environment: they are listed as a Near Threatened species.
Image from http://photography.nationalgeographic.com
db johnston
almost falling 