Just A Cousin

    Sometimes, extended family can be the closest friends you can have...sometimes.  Sometimes, those same family members can be the very ones that will throw you under the bus if ever a chance occurs.  It all boils down to that old adage of "It is better to have an honest enemy than a fake family."  When things come to light, there oftentimes comes a need to purge...family or not. Seriously, though, family is (in most cases) exactly what is needed to make life livable.  The closeness, the love, the laughter...that...THAT is pure bliss.

  This morning, I found a cousin...not of mine but a cousin to another critter.  Most folks are keenly aware of the adorable seahorses that are found the warmer waters of the world. These fine fish are found near coral reefs and in seagrass beds where they have protection from larger predators.  (Yes, they are fish.)  Here, we have an abundance of pipefish.  Pipefish are the sweet cousins of the seahorses!  Like their cousins they tend to hide among the underwater plants as they go about eating tiny plankton.  I occasionally catch one when I am throwing the net for mullet or bait fish.  I marvel at the beauty and then carefully release the tiny critters.

  It is easy to see the "family resemblance" if you ever take the time to really observe the pipefish.  Their heads and "snouts" are so much like that of the seahorses.  These snouts are specialized to capture small prey that other fish overlook.  Also, like their cousins, pipefish are extremely camouflaged and can go unseen in a bed of seagrass.  This helps them avoid being eaten and also helps them to capture food.  Another way they are like their cousins, is the male pipefish gives birth not the female.  He has a specialized brood pouch which can hold up to dozens of eggs or tiny pipefish!  

  So...there you have it!  Cousins...seahorses and pipefish!  Oh...let us not forget their other cousins...the sea dragons but they are way over in Australia not around my Bayou!