The pygmy sea horses in this clip were filmed in Lembeh Strait, Indonesia. They appear in their habitat among a distinctive type of coral. The sea horses look very much like the coral, which serves both to camouflage the sea horses and to lure their prey into the seeming safety of the branching coral. Better camouflaged sea horses are more likely to survive and reproduce, and thus pass on more of the genes underlying the camouflage pattern, than more noticeable sea horses. This would account for the evolution of the striking likeness between this pygmy sea horse and its habitat. Credit: National Geographic.
