Sea-horses are often the first marine animals that the novice marine aquarist chooses for his tank. These fishes are undoubtedly of equestrian appearance, caused by the horse-like form of the head and their deportment. The latter characteristic is produced because the normal posture of the body is in the vertical plane and the head held at right angles.

Throughout recorded history these unlikely looking animals have excited the curiosity of all who have seen them. Sea-horses have featured on coins, on the signet-ring of a Roman Emperor and on the coats-of-arms of individuals and civic bodies. They feature in the collections of fishes of almost every marine aquarist – until their several disadvantages become apparent. Prime among these were (i.e. until the introduction of gamma-ray irradiated Mysis shrimps) their refusal to eat anything except...

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