What did ancient people first think upon finding dead seahorses washed up on shore? Were they baby dragons? Enchanted ponies? Cousins of mythological mashups like mermaids or satyrs?
The Greeks believed them to be offspring of stallions that pulled the sea-god Poseidon’s chariot, combining “hippos” (horse) and kampos (sea monster) to name them “hippocampus.”
However, seahorses are living, breathing (through gills) evolutionary oddities that look equine on top and serpentine on the bottom…