Ocean Facts
Picture of ocean stuff.

Description

Close kin to seahorses, the leafy sea dragon doesn't live on tropical reefs, but in the cooler rocky reefs off south and western Australia. There, this rare fish, with its leaflike fins and frilly appendages, is perfectly camouflaged among seaweeds and seagrass beds. It can be difficult to spot among the kelp as it slowly sways back and forth with the current. The leafy sea dragon eats small shrimplike animals called mysids that live among the algae and seagrasses. A sea dragon's tubelike mouth works like a drinking straw; a hungry dragon waits until its prey ventures near, then slurps it up. Each day, a single sea dragon may slurp up thousands of mysid shrimp.