San Diego Aquarium Breeds Rare Sea Dragon
2/14/2020 10:26 am ET
The Birch Aquarium announced the hatching of two weedy sea dragons, becoming one of the few in the world to successfully breed the unusual fish.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Southern California aquarium has successfully bred the rare weedy sea dragon, the lesser known cousin of the sea horse that resembles seaweed when floating.
San Diego’s Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography said in a news release Thursday that two weedy sea dragons have hatched this week, making the aquarium one of the few in the world to successfully breed the unusual fish.
The babies with leafy appendages are less than an inch long, and have eaten their first meal of tiny shrimp. The aquarium is keeping the delicate creatures out of public view for now.
The hatchlings come less than a year after the aquarium at the University of California, San Diego built what is believed to be one of the world’s largest habitats for the sea dragons, whose native populations off Australia are threatened by pollution, warming oceans and the illegal pet and alternative medicine trades.
More:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/san-diego-aquarium-weedy-sea-dragon_n_5e46ba4bc5b64ba2974e7f61