todropscience: “ FANTASTIC! RECENTLY DISCOVERED RUBY SEADRAGON SPOTTED IN THE WILD FOR THE FIRST TIME Until 2015 only two species of seadragon were known, the leafy seadragon and the common seadragon, both from Australia. But that year, a new...
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todropscience: “ FANTASTIC! RECENTLY DISCOVERED RUBY SEADRAGON SPOTTED IN THE WILD FOR THE FIRST TIME Until 2015 only two species of seadragon were known, the leafy seadragon and the common seadragon, both from Australia. But that year, a new...
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todropscience:

FANTASTIC! RECENTLY DISCOVERED RUBY SEADRAGON  SPOTTED IN THE WILD FOR THE FIRST TIME

Until 2015 only two species of seadragon were known, the leafy seadragon and the common seadragon, both from Australia. But that year, a new species of seadragon, the ruby seadragon was discovered, knowly from four preserved specimens, leaving many aspects of its biology unknown. It was the first seadragon species to be discovered in 150 years.

Now we know little more about them. Researchers has made the first live observations of the ruby seadragon in the wild, at Recherche Archipelago, Western Australia.

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According to videos, the ruby seadragon clearly live in shallow waters (30~50m depth) in a very different habitat compared to their relatives. The ruby seadragon, unlike to other seadragon, has no leaf-like dermal appendages  and has a curled, likely prehensile tail with a yellow tip. It appears that at these low-light depths, an efficient camouflage strategy for ruby seadragons is to rely on cryptic red coloration.