- Habitat:
The leafy sea dragon is restricted to Australian temperate waters. It is found from the southern coastline of Australia from Kangaroo Island, South Australia to South-western Australia where water temperatures between 13 to 19 degrees. It lives among rocky reefs, seaweed beds, seagrass meadows and on sand patches where they are able to camouflage and mimic drifting seaweed. They are found from the surface to depths of 25m
Challenges:
- Humans
Humans are the largest threat to the survival of the leafy sea dragon. Divers often take the dragons and keep them as pets. This practise occurred so frequently in the 1990’s
- Pollution
As the sea dragons are unable to move from the waters of south-eastern Australia, pollution impacts the dragons massively and has hurt their numbers drastically over time.
Adaptations:
- Structural
Leafy camouflage: The leafy sea dragon is true to its name and is covered in leafy like camouflage. The Sea Dragon has adapted this over time to look like debris drifting in the water and avoids predators.
- Behavioural
- Drift in the water: When the water is calm, the leafy sea dragon will remain still for great periods of time. As they get tired easily they will often rest and literally ‘go with the flow.’ As many Sea dragons will often die from exhaustion, having the ability drift with the current boosts their rate of survival markedly
- Physiological
- The tail of a male leafy sea dragon will turn bright yellow when he is ready to mate. This enables females to identify which males want to breed which ensures that reproduction is occurring easily and quickly
Rhythmic pattern and purpose:
Leafy sea dragons often travel far away from the location they rest in to find food, yet they are able to come back to exact location they left.
Why does the leafy sea dragon have different adaptations to the Bilby?
- Both species have different adaptations due to the different environment and conditions they endure. For example, the seahorse is unable to dig burrows to avoid predators therefore it has a different adaptation; camouflage, to ensure that it goes unnoticed by predators. Both animals are very different thus their needs for survival are also unlike.
Interesting fact!
Male leafy sea dragons are the species that carries babies
The leafy sea dragon is restricted to Australian temperate waters. It is found from the southern coastline of Australia from Kangaroo Island, South Australia to South-western Australia where water temperatures between 13 to 19 degrees. It lives among rocky reefs, seaweed beds, seagrass meadows and on sand patches where they are able to camouflage and mimic drifting seaweed. They are found from the surface to depths of 25m
Challenges:
- Humans
Humans are the largest threat to the survival of the leafy sea dragon. Divers often take the dragons and keep them as pets. This practise occurred so frequently in the 1990’s
- Pollution
As the sea dragons are unable to move from the waters of south-eastern Australia, pollution impacts the dragons massively and has hurt their numbers drastically over time.
Adaptations:
- Structural
Leafy camouflage: The leafy sea dragon is true to its name and is covered in leafy like camouflage. The Sea Dragon has adapted this over time to look like debris drifting in the water and avoids predators.
- Behavioural
- Drift in the water: When the water is calm, the leafy sea dragon will remain still for great periods of time. As they get tired easily they will often rest and literally ‘go with the flow.’ As many Sea dragons will often die from exhaustion, having the ability drift with the current boosts their rate of survival markedly
- Physiological
- The tail of a male leafy sea dragon will turn bright yellow when he is ready to mate. This enables females to identify which males want to breed which ensures that reproduction is occurring easily and quickly
Rhythmic pattern and purpose:
Leafy sea dragons often travel far away from the location they rest in to find food, yet they are able to come back to exact location they left.
Why does the leafy sea dragon have different adaptations to the Bilby?
- Both species have different adaptations due to the different environment and conditions they endure. For example, the seahorse is unable to dig burrows to avoid predators therefore it has a different adaptation; camouflage, to ensure that it goes unnoticed by predators. Both animals are very different thus their needs for survival are also unlike.
Interesting fact!
Male leafy sea dragons are the species that carries babies