Tikumu’s letter

Press, 31 March 1981, Page 14

Tikumu’s letter

Dm Deader

In Shakespeare’s comedy “The Tempest,” Ariel the fairy sings these lines: Nothing of him that doth fade But doth suffer a sea change Into sbmething rich and strange .. .” : Many strange creatures live,in the sea and perhaps there is a touch of magic, even humour, in some of them. One interesting example is the sea-horse, a fish of several parts, each bearing a resemblance to a different animal. The sea-horse- is shaped rather like a question mark. It has the head and neck of a tiny horse, a body with the covering of an insect, bulging in front with a kangaroo-like pouch. Tapering from the body is un unfish-like tail

which curls around floating objects gripping them for support in the way a monkey docs. The sea-horse is not good to eat and so it is fairly safe from hungry hunters, but it has other problems. It swims in an upright position propelled by a thin transparent dorsal fin and balanced by two pectoral fins, one on each side of the head. But it tires easily and rests by wrapping its tail around the nearest support, sometimes the tail of an-

other sea-horse. Sea-horses do not like cold water. They live among seaweeds and plants in warm or temperate seas, feeding on tiny fish and insects. In New- Zealand they are more commonly found off the coasts of the North Island and in the north of the South Island. A large species found in New Zealand waters is known by the Maori name,

kiore. It is brown in colour with dark brown or blackish spots and bars round the tail. Sometimes sea-horses are caught accidentally in nets, and they are always in danger of being, washed up on beaches among seaweeds torn, from ocean beds by storms. Sea-horses have unusual breeding habits and the fathers are left carrying the babies so to speak. The female lays the eggs and passes them into the pouch of the male who nurtures them for about 30 days until they are ready to fend for themselves. Once they have left the pouch they are out on their own. The male has other trou-

bles. Weighed down as he is by the burden of a growing family of between 50 and 100, he is less mobile than usual. He may be mistaken for a piece of coral or seaw’eed by a careless cuttlefish looking for a place to lay her eggs. Sea-horses have been found on beaches, their bodies festooned with cuttlefish eggs. A story is told of one victim that was washed ashore in Italy. With 52 eggs covering its head and neck the sea-horse’s breathing had been affected and it did not live to tell the tale.

Ajibuma.