At my school, Year 3 students are taking part in an exciting STEM learning experience focused on helping the endangered Sydney white seahorse. As part of the challenge, students will design and build small model habitats to support the survival of this special marine animal.
To launch the project, scientists from the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS) visited the School last week. They shared their expert knowledge about the seahorse’s habitat, how it lives, and the threats it faces. You can read about the Sydney Seahorse Program here.
The children at school are fascinated by seahorses because they all live near the harbour or specifically close to Chowder Bay where the research is taking place. Many of them have seen a seahorse. That got me thinking about whether there actually is a day to celebrate seahorses. There is. Some websites say Seahorse Day is 7th July which means I missed it. Other sites say it is 14th December which is still a way off. So today it is unofficially Seahorse Day.
When I put together a display usually include seahorses and sea dragons so that I have a large number of books. A student will always ask if they are the same. Yes because they are both fish, but strictly speaking they are cousins.
The scientific name for seahorses, Hippocampus, comes from the Greek words meaning "horse" and "sea monster." Both seahorses and seadragons have a head and neck that look like a horse, and long tube-like snouts to catch minuscule prey like plankton, small shrimp or crustaceans. Their bodies are also covered in segmented bony armour for protection against predators.
One of the most notable differences between seahorses and seadragons is that seadragons have small leaf-like appendages on their bodies that provide camouflage among lush kelp forests and seaweed. Seadragons are often more colourful than seahorses with bright yellows, purples, blues and reds on their body and appendages.
Find
some information books
some picture books
Some seadragon books
Coming soon
And for those wanting beginning chapter books
and two series
Simon Seahorse by Cora Reef (6 titles)
Seahorse Stars by Zuzu Singer (6 titles)
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