A little girl was walking down the Indian Shores Beach near Tampa, Florida, when she saw something she thought was a Cheeto.

When she picked it up, the girl realized it was a seahorse in desperate need of help. The child put the tiny fellow into her sand bucket, filled it with water and rushed to show the seahorse to her mom.

They called the Clearwater Marine Center (CMA). After close examination, it turned out to be a female lined seahorse, a type that changes colors to match its surroundings. She must have lived in red and orange sponges before being swept to the shore – thus the orange color.

The Marine Center, which dubbed the female seahorse Cheeto in honor of the little girl that rescued it, said the seahorse started eating grass shrimp after a few days of rehabilitation.

Officials said the seahorse is growing stronger and will eventually be released back into the wild.

"Although initially appearing very orange, Cheeto now has taken on a bright yellow color," the aquarium said. "Color change is common in some seahorses, which have an ability known as crypsis to camouflage and match their surroundings."


"Each creature is important to us, and we are fortunate to have the opportunity to rehabilitate Cheeto," said David Yates, CEO.
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Male White seahorse giving birth off of Little Beach in Nelson Bay, NSW, Australia.

Meagan Abele and Clayton Manning research seahorses for the global conservation group Project Seahorse in Australia. The pair of scientists were recently diving in Nelson Bay in New South Wales when they were lucky enough to spot a male pregnant Witei seahorse giving birth!

Do sea horses mate for life? They tend to bond for life but not always. In bonded pairs, when one dies the other will die soon after.

How many species of sea horses are there? 40+ Are seahorses endangered? Yes. There are 39 species of endangered seahorses on the IUCN Red List.


Why are sea horses endangered? Three factors account for the deaths of tens of millions of sea horses each year: the Chinese medicinal trade, accidental catch by shrimp trawling and other fishing operations, and habitat destruction.

What is unique about seahorse reproduction? The male gets impregnated by the female and stores the eggs in its brood pouch until they hatch in about 2-3 weeks.

Seahorses are truly unique, and not just because of their unusual equine shape. Unlike most other fish, they are monogamous and mate for life. Rarer still, they are among the only animal species on Earth in which the male bears the unborn young.


Many seahorses are monogamous, meaning they mate for life. The male and female have an elaborate, daily courtship ritual, involving a "dance" where they entwine their tails, and may change colors.


Unlike any other species, the males become pregnant. Females insert her eggs through an oviduct into the male's brood pouch. The male wiggles to get the eggs into position. Once all the eggs are inserted, the male goes to a nearby coral or seaweed and grabs on with his tail to wait out gestation, which may last several weeks. When it's time to give birth, he'll contort his body in contractions, until the young are born, sometimes over a period of minutes or hours. Baby seahorses look just like miniature versions of their parents.



Seahorses are threatened by harvesting (for use in aquariums or Asian medicine), habitat destruction, and pollution. Because they are hard to find in the wild, population sizes may not be well-known for many species. Some ways you can help seahorses are not purchasing souvenir seahorses, not using seahorses in your aquarium, support seahorse conservation programs, and avoid polluting water by not using chemicals on your lawn and by using eco-friendly household cleaners.
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