page_title: Common seadragon
section_title: Biology
hierarchical_section_title: Common seadragon / Biology
caption_attribution_description: English: Weedy Seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus)
context_page_description: The common seadragon or weedy seadragon is a marine fish related to the seahorses. Adult common seadragons are a reddish colour, with yellow and purple markings; they have small leaf-like appendages that resemble kelp fronds providing camouflage and a number of short spines for protection. Males have narrower bodies and are darker than females. Seadragons have a long dorsal fin along the back and small pectoral fins on either side of the neck, which provide balance. Common seadragons can reach 45 cm in length.
  The common seadragon is the marine emblem of the Australian state of Victoria.
context_section_description: These fish are slow-moving and rely on their camouflage as protection against predation; they drift in the water and with the leaf-like appendages resemble the swaying seaweed of their habitat. They lack a prehensile tail that enables similar species to clasp and anchor themselves.
  Individuals are observed either on their own or in pairs; feeding on tiny crustaceans and other zooplankton by sucking prey into their toothless mouths. Like seahorses, seadragon males are the sex that cares for the developing eggs. Females lay around 120 eggs onto the brood patch located on the underside of the males' tail. The eggs are fertilised and carried by the male for around a month before the hatchlings emerge. The young are independent at birth, beginning to eat shortly after. Common seadragons take about 28 months to reach sexual maturity, and may live for up to six years.
  Mating in captivity is relatively rare since researchers have yet to understand what biological or environmental factors trigger them to reproduce. The survival rate for young common seadragons is low in the wild, but it is about 60% in captivity.
  The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California and the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, Tennessee in the US, and the Melbourne Aquarium in Melbourne, Australia are among the few facilities in the world to have successfully bred common seadragons in captivity, though others occasionally report egg laying. In March 2012 the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, USA, announced a successful breeding event of common seadragons. As of July 2012, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has also successfully bred and hatched out baby common seadragons on exhibit.
caption: Common Seadragon
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