Seahorses have a 90 percent success rate when attacking prey, which makes them one of the most successful predators in the ocean.
Seahorses are small and cute when they slowly move through the water. It seems hard to believe that these fish can hunt for prey so efficiently. The clue to this mystery lies in the shape of its head.
Seahorses feed on small crustaceans, ‘Copepods’ that float in the water or crawl on the bottom.
Copepods are specialised in detecting waves from predators. When they feel the smallest movement in the water around them, they flee at speeds of more than 500 body lengths per second.
But the sea horse is still able to trick and catch its intended prey 90% of the time!
The head of a sea horse seems bulkier than other, sleeker fish, but they have what’s called pivot or pipette method of feeding, a trait of the Syngnathid fish family which includes seahorses, pipefish, and sea dragons.
The seahorse’s snout is narrow, elongated, and rounded on top, and since it’s quite small, it creates fewer disturbances in the water, allowing it to get very close to its target without being noticed.
To hunt, the sea horse creeps up slowly and angles its head to a position of attack. Above and in front of its nostrils is the “no wake zone” where its prey sits seemingly undisturbed.
Their arched necks act as a spring – allowing them to rapidly rotate their heads and suck their prey in. This method only works at short distances. The effective strike range for seahorses is about 1mm with each strike taking place in less than 1 millisecond.