Seahorses

Seahorses

Seahorses
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 4 to 7
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	7.41

Vocabulary

challenging words:

tentative, turret, mounted, focus, encounter, species, horse-like, seahorses, offspring, breed, unique, speedy, swimmers, predator, male, pregnant

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Other Languages
Spanish: Los Caballitos de Mar

Seahorses

¹     In shallow, warm seawater, there lives the most unique fish! At a first glance, this tiny animal doesn't look like a fish at all! Instead, it looks like a piece taken straight from a chessboard! This amazing creature is the seahorse.

²     As their name suggests, seahorses have horse-like faces. Their bodies are encased in rings of bony plates, making them look like armored knights. There are over 35 different species of seahorses, and they all are great disguise masters! Seahorses have vivid skin colors that blend well with their colorful surroundings, such as seaweed or coral. To further minimize the chance of being spotted by hungry fish or crabs, seahorses can stay motionless by using their long, curly tails as anchors to hold onto blades of sea grass. When they do move around, they swim upright very slowly.

³     Seahorses feed on plankton, small fish, and tiny crustaceans (such as shrimp). Since they are not speedy swimmers, they don't chase after their food. Instead, they take the "stand-and-wait" approach. When seahorses see food approaching, they rely on their camouflage to disguise their figures. Once their prey is close enough, seahorses simply suck it up with their long, tube-like snouts. Seahorses are ultra careful animals - as much as they focus on hunting, they pay equal attention to any potential predator. How can they do that? Seahorses have their eyes mounted on turrets. Each turret can turn in different directions, allowing seahorses to use one eye to search for food and the other to look out for danger.

Paragraphs 4 to 5:
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