TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Sharks may be crowned as the most vicious predator in the ocean. But no ocean inhabitant beat seahorses' ability to sneak up on their prey.
Thanks to its unique snouts, seahorses are able to swim with very few ripples in the water, effectively cloaking them as they creep up and pounce on tiny crustaceans.
"The seahorse is one the slowest swimming fish we know of, but it's able to capture prey that swim at incredible speeds," said Brad Gemmell from the University of Texas, United States as quoted by Daily Mail and BBC. "In calm conditions, they catch their intended prey 90 percent of the time. That's extremely high, and we wanted to know why."
Gemmell and his team observed the tiny creature in the Bahamas and United States water using laser equipped microscope and high speed digital camera. They found that the seahorse's snout is shaped to minimize the disturbance of water in front of its mouth before it strikes.
Gemmell explained that sneaking up on the prey is about life-and-death for the seahorses. Once the copepods, the prey, feel the slightest ripple in the water, they will escape and there is no chance for the slow and hungry seahorse to race with them.
"People often don't think of seahorses as amazing predators, but they really are," Gemmel added. The research result was published in the nature Communications Journal.
MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI
