Leafy Seadragon

ID points

• Leaf-shaped skin flaps all over the body, looking like seaweed
• Long tubular snout; head tilted slightly downward
• Drifts and sways with the current rather than appearing to swim

Basics

Family

Syngnathidae

Length

20–35 cm

Depth

3-50 m

Regions

Temperate & polar

Distribution

Temperate seaweed beds of southern Australia

Habitat

Temperate seaweed and seagrass beds

Diet

Small crustaceans

Easily confused with

Weedy SeadragonRed-purple ground covered with yellow spots and fine silvery white barsPipefishBody slender as a stick, encased in rings of bony platesSeahorseHead set at almost a right angle to the body; floats upright

Fun fact

The leaf-shaped growths all over a leafy seadragon are useless for swimming; they are pure camouflage. As with seahorses, it is the male that carries and broods the next generation.

More in this family

• Big-belly Seahorse
• Pygmy Seahorse