The lobes of skin that grow on the Leafy Sea Dragon give it the appearance of seaweed, allowing it to camouflage with its surroundings. Its leafy appearance also allows it to appear to move through the water like a piece of floating seaweed. The Leafy Sea Dragon can also change color to blend in, but this ability relies on the sea dragon's diet, location, and stress levels.
The Leafy Sea Dragon has a long, pipe-like snout that it uses to feed. It primarily eats crustaceans including plankton and mysids, but its diet also includes shrimp and other small fish. It catches its prey using its camouflage ability. Leafy sea dragons oddly enough do not have teeth, which is rare amongst animals that eat small fish and shrimp.
The Leafy Sea Dragon is a cousin of the pipefish and belongs to the family Syngnathidae, along with the seahorse. The Leafy Sea Dragon differs from the seahorse in its appearance, form of locomotion, and the Leafy Sea Dragon's inability to coil or grasp things with its tail. A related species is the weedy sea dragon, which is multi-coloured and grows weed-like fins and can be much smaller than the leafy sea dragon. In the November 2006 issue of National Geographic magazine, marine biologist Greg Rouse is reported as investigating the DNA variation of the two sea dragon species across their ranges.
The Leafy Sea Dragon has a long, pipe-like snout that it uses to feed. It primarily eats crustaceans including plankton and mysids, but its diet also includes shrimp and other small fish. It catches its prey using its camouflage ability. Leafy sea dragons oddly enough do not have teeth, which is rare amongst animals that eat small fish and shrimp.
The Leafy Sea Dragon is a cousin of the pipefish and belongs to the family Syngnathidae, along with the seahorse. The Leafy Sea Dragon differs from the seahorse in its appearance, form of locomotion, and the Leafy Sea Dragon's inability to coil or grasp things with its tail. A related species is the weedy sea dragon, which is multi-coloured and grows weed-like fins and can be much smaller than the leafy sea dragon. In the November 2006 issue of National Geographic magazine, marine biologist Greg Rouse is reported as investigating the DNA variation of the two sea dragon species across their ranges.
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