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A woman rescues a kangaroo stranded by flood waters at Lake Burrendong, about 240 km northwest of Sydney December 8, 2010. Heavy rain and widespread flooding has damaged crops and blocking roads across huge areas of eastern Australia. REUTERS/Lake Burrendong Sport and Recreation Centre/Tracy Woods
Aurora, a ten-month-old female polar bear, lies in the snow at the Royev Ruchey Zoo in Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk December 7, 2010. Aurora is one of two female wild polar bear cubs which were found in Russia's Taimyr Peninsula on the coast of the Arctic Ocean in early May and were later housed in the zoo in Krasnoyarsk. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin
Sea lions play at the zoo in the German town of Gelsenkirchen December 3, 2010. REUTERS/Kirsten Neumann
Ollie, a three-month-old rescued sea otter, sits next to mamalogist Caitlin Dixon at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Calif., Dec. 9, 2010. The otter was stranded and rescued off of Santa Cruz when she was a few weeks old. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Ollie, a three-month-old rescued see otter, looks at a camera lens at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Calif., Dec. 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Ollie, a three-month-old rescued see otter, uses mammalogist Caitlin Dixon's boots as a pillow while taking a nap at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A great gray owl screws his head at the zoo in Muenster, Germany, Monday, Dec. 6, 2010. Winter has arrived in Germany with ice and snow all over the country. Weather forecast predicts changing temperatures with freezing rain and dangerous icing. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
A sacred baboon checks out the peppers during a special Nikolaus breakfast the animals were given at the Hagenbeck zoo in the northern German city of Hamburg on December 3, 2010. Many parts of the country are experiencing cold weather with heavy snowfall. AFP PHOTO / MALTE CHRISTIANS
A baby crawls next to an olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) spawning in Ostional beach, in Ostional National Wildlife Refuge, some 300 km north of San Jose, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, on November 30, 2010. AFP PHOTO/Yuri CORTEZ
Konik horses play with snow in the Oostvaardersplassen nature reserve in Lelystad, on December 2, 2010. Dutch government makes plans to give herbivores more space to find food in the winter. AFP PHOTO/ANP/ SANDER KONING
An ant is seen walking over a "Bejuquillo Cafe" (Oxybelis aeneus) snake at Ostional National Wildlife Refuge in Guanacaste province, some 300 kilometers north of San Jose, on December 1, 2010. AFP PHOTO/ Yuri CORTEZ
The Georgia Aquarium is the world’s largest aquarium with more than eight million gallons of water and more aquatic life than any other aquarium. The five distinct galleries within the Georgia Aquarium depict five different habitats, ranging from arctic to tropical.
The Cold Water Quest gallery features animals from the icy waters of the polar regions to the temperate seas of California, South Africa
and south Australia. Within the gallery Weedy sea dragons - Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, one of the most intricate animals in the Aquarium, practice the art of disguise in their exhibit.
The Georgia Aquarium announced the birth of multiple weedy sea dragons within the Georgia-Pacific Cold Water Quest gallery. These babies were born in late summer and have been growing like “weeds” in the Aquarium’s back-of-house area.”
Georgia Aquarium photo
Pregnant Male: Interesting fact - it is the male of the species that “gives birth.” The female lays up to 250 to 300 eggs onto the soft underside of the male's tail. The eggs are embedded into the skin in cup-like structures that harden and form around each egg to hold and protect them during brooding. After about two months, the bright pink eggs hatch into miniature juveniles, which settle into the vegetation.
Georgia Aquarium photo
The new babies are about 4-4.5 inches long and weighed less than an ounce at birth. They join the ten adult sea dragons within the Georgia Aquarium habitat.
Georgia Aquarium photo
Although they are small, less colorful and have a much shorter snout, the juvenile sea dragon is basically the form of an adult. Within days, it is on its own to hunt for survival, as weedy sea dragons are a solitary species.
