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Seahorse
Hippocampus sp.
Where it was photographed - The Winter Anchorage area of Island Beach State Park (near the canoe and kayak ramp)
One of the more interesting and rare organisms that live in the marsh
is the Seahorse. The
seahorse is a plankton eater
(part of the plankton food chain). The seahorse in this photo
is about 6 inches long. The species of seahorse found in the
Barnegat Bay estuary is very dependent on the eel grass beds (a type of
submerged aquatic vegetation or SAV throughout the bay). The
seahorse’s occasional nature may be due to the changes in the
stability of the health of eel grass beds.
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