Can YOU spot the seahorse? Creature is a master of disguise as it hides perfectly in a vibrant coral bed
- Pygmy seahorse can colour to match its surroundings
- Suzan Meldonian was diving off the coast of Aniloa, in the Philippines
- Her stunning images appear to show just the weaving coral, but on closer inspection you can also see the pink seahorse, with bobbles on its body
A tiny seahorse makes itself look exactly like a piece of coral to hide from predators swimming around it.
The 2cm tall camouflaged pygmy seahorse stays incredibly still, changing colour to its surroundings to stop it from being spotted.
Wildlife photographer Suzan Meldonian was diving 80-feet below sea level for an hour off the coast of Aniloa, in the Philippines, when she spotted the creature in the coral.
Can you spot? A tiny seahorse makes itself look exactly like a piece of coral to hide from predators swimming around it
The 2cm tall camouflaged pygmy seahorse stays incredibly still, changing colour to its surroundings to stop it from being spotted
Her stunning images appear to show just the weaving coral, but on closer inspection you can also see the pink seahorse, with bobbles on its body.
Ms Meldonian, of Boca Raton, Florida, said: 'When I first saw it I was shocked at how absolutely tiny and perfectly blended into the background it was.
'Because they are so well camouflaged it is really easy to lose sight of them while you are diving.
'You have to study the coral really closely for any slight differences in the patterns or little movements before you can decipher where the animal is.
'With seahorses of any type, they are very delicate and fragile creatures and so you must take care not to stress them too much while diving around them.
Wildlife photographer Suzan Meldonian was diving, 80-feet below sea level, for an hour off the coast of Aniloa, in the Philippines, when she spotted the creature in the coral
The photographer's stunning images appear to show just the weaving coral, but on closer inspection you can also see the pink seahorse, with bobbles on its body
'Being underwater is amazing, it's another layer - a world within a world.'
Seahorses are one the slowest swimmers in the sea - but what seahorses lack in speed, they make up for in stealth.
The creatures' delicate heads are designed to prevent disturbances in the water that would alert prey to their approach.
This is important, as their dinner - tiny crustaceans called copepods - can rapidly sense ripples and escape at breakneck speed.
Despite being just 1mm long, the copepod is one of the world’s fastest animals, capable of breathtaking acceleration over short distances - the equivalent to a 6ft person swimming underwater at 2,000mph.
But even this impressive flight mechanism is no match for the ponderous, hungry seahorse.
Lead scientist, Brad Gemmell, of the University of Texas, said: ‘A seahorse is one of the slowest swimming fish that we know of.
But it is able to capture prey that swim at incredible speeds for their size. We wanted to know why.’
Suzan Meldonian, of Boca Raton, Florida, said: 'When I first saw it I was shocked at how absolutely tiny and perfectly blended into the background it was'
The creatures' delicate heads are designed to prevent disturbances in the water that would alert prey to their approach
Seahorses are one the slowest swimmers in the sea - but what seahorses lack in speed, they make up for in stealth.
Several years ago Dr Gemmell's team used high-speed 3D imaging techniques to study the dwarf seahorse, Hippocampus zosterae, from the Bahamas and the US.
Writing in the journal Nature Communications, Dr Gemmel said that the unusual shape of a seahorse's head helps prevent waves forming in front of its snout.
This allows the creatures to sneak up on their prey without being detected.
He added: ‘It's like an arms race between predator and prey, and the seahorse has developed a good method for getting close enough so that their striking distance is very short.
‘Seahorses have the capability to overcome the sensory abilities of one of the most talented escape artists in the aquatic world - copepods.
‘People often don't think of seahorses as amazing predators, but they really are.’
The seahorse is the equivalent of a stealth fighter jet - it's head and body is shaped so that it causes minimum disruption as it moves through water.
'You have to study the coral really closely for any slight differences in the patterns or little movements before you can decipher where the animal is,' said wildlife photographer Suzan Meldonian from Florida
This crafty seahorse took the term 'master of disguise' to a whole new level with its ingenious disguise
Taking on the colours and textures of a vibrant pink coral bed, the fish appeared invisible to the naked eye, and left users stumped
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