Picture of the Week, Leafy Sea Dragon

There is something that is just so alluring about sea dragons. Although they aren’t too different from seahorses, usually moving in the same slow and methodical fashion while they cruise around the aquarium, they are far more elaborate in their appearance. Looking like an ultra modified versions of their close seahorse relatives, sea dragons are often adorned with elaborate fins that resemble marine vegetation like Sargassum, kelp, and whatever else is readily available in their habitat.

And like seahorses, the sea dragons are just so cute and are super easy to photograph. They can get quite camera shy, but after warming up to us, we are usually able to get good pictures of them, such as the one shown above. The image was taken at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California.