{"id":236,"date":"2010-08-17T14:26:53","date_gmt":"2010-08-17T04:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceillustrated.com.au\/blog\/?p=236"},"modified":"2010-08-19T15:31:52","modified_gmt":"2010-08-19T05:31:52","slug":"underwater-sydney-sea-monsters-of-the-harbour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceillustrated.com.au\/blog\/marine-australia\/underwater-sydney-sea-monsters-of-the-harbour\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the seahorses of Sydney Harbour"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image: Richard Vevers<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Sydney has arguably the best marine life of any major city on the planet and is the easiest place in the world to come face-to-face with seahorses in the wild.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Seahorses take their name from hippocampus, a creature in Greek mythology that had the upper body of a horse and the lower body of a sea-monster “\u201c a scary beast that pulled Poseidon’s chariot across the seas and struck fear into the hearts of ancient mariners. People used to think that seahorses were the babies of these sea monsters, so it’s not too surprising that hippocampus is the scientific name that was given to the seahorse; it literally translates to ‘horse sea-monster’. With hundreds of these ‘sea-monsters’ living in Sydney, it’s lucky the ancient Greeks got it wrong and these babies never grow up.<\/p>\n