Question

Hippocampus belongs to a class
(a) Aganatha
(b) Chondrichthyes
(c) Osteichthyes
(d) Mammals

Answer 1

Hint: It is elongated with rigid body armor and swims upright. The pectoral fins on the sides and a little dorsal fin on the back. They feed utilizing little mouths at the head of the tubular snouts. The different species range in size from around 5 to 36 cm (2 to 14 in.) long.

Complete answer:
A. Agnatha is a superclass of jawless fishes.
B. Chondrichthyes may be a class of cartilaginous fishes and includes sharks, rays, and Chimaera.
C. Osteichthyes is a class of bony fishes and incorporates lungfishes, ray-finned and lobe-finned fishes. Hippocampus, commonly referred to as Seahorse, belongs to Osteichthyes.
D. Mammals are terrestrial and warm-blooded creatures that have trademark mammary organs.

Additional Information: Seahorses are found in temperate and tropical waters. The long snout seahorse (Hippocampus reidi) and therefore the Northern seahorse (Hippocampus erectus) sleep in the Caribbean region of the Western Atlantic. The common seahorse (Hippocampus guttulatus) lives within the Mediterranean and warm areas of the Atlantic. The yellow seahorse (Hippocampus kuda) lives within the Indo-Pacific. The Pacific seahorse (Hippocampus ingens) is the only seahorse on the eastern Pacific Coast, starting from California to Peru.
Seahorses can change their shading to cover themselves so as to escape foes. The most unusual seahorse is the Australian seahorse, which has leaf-like camouflage everywhere on its body making it almost disappear within the seaweed bed. They feed using their small mouths at the end of their snouts.
So the correct answer is ’Osteichthyes’.

Note: The male bears a brood pouch in which the female lays eggs and the latter remain there till they hatch. Thus, parental care is performed by the male. The pelvic and caudal fins are absent. The dried skin of the ocean horse is employed for the preparation of some ornaments.