A recent study suggests that seahorses are very cunning and deadly predators, and have a success rating of 90 percent while catching their prey.
According to a new study "Morphology of seahorse head hydrodynamically aids in capture of evasive prey" posted on the online journal Nature Communications, seahorses are supposed to be very slow movers in the water but they have the ability to catch extremely fast moving prey at an astonishing high speed.
"Seahorses have the capability to overcome the sensory abilities of one of the most talented escape artists in the aquatic world - copepods," said Brad Gemmell, study author and a research associate at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute. "People often don't think of seahorses as amazing predators, but they really are."
Copepods are extremely small crustaceans and one of the most favored preys of not only seahorses but also pipefish and sea dragons. When copepods detect waves from their predators they can escape at a speed of more than 500 times of their body length per second, which is equal to a 6-feet tall person swimming at a rate of 2,000 mph.
However, seahorses can sneakily catch hold of these fast copepods and researchers say that their head's shape gives them the advantage to attack at high speed.
For the purpose of the study, Gemmell and his colleague Ed Buskey, a professor of marine science at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, observed dwarf seahorse, Hippocampus zosterae, which is originally found in the Bahamas and the U.S.
The researchers used high-speed digital 3-D holography techniques to study the seahorses and copepods in action. The 3-D holographic techniques used a microscope fitted with a laser and a high-speed digital camera to capture the fast movements of the predator and the prey.
Seahorses use a method called pivot feeding to catch preys. The creature's arched neck acts as a spring, which allows them to swiftly rotate their head and suck their prey. However, this action works only at short distances. The researchers indicate that the effective strike range for seahorses is only 1mm and it strikes the prey in less than a millisecond.
The latest study has now shed light on how seahorses are able to get close enough to their prey without being spotted.
