How could anyone wonder what I’m so fascinated by sea life when creatures like this exist?

Leafy Sea Dragons are close relatives of seahorses. The leaf-like protrusions that spring from their bodies allow perfect camouflage amidst surrounding seaweed.

I’m always impressed by nature’s masters of adaptation. For a slow moving creature, fragile enough to rupture from mere changes in water pressure, flawless camouflage was the least evolution could do for this gorgeous specimen.

The body of a sea dragon scarcely appears to move at all. Steering and turning is through movement of tiny, translucent fins along the sides of the head (pectoral fins, visible above) and propulsion derives from the dorsal fins (along the spine). Their movement is as though an invisible hand were helping, causing them to glide and tumble in peculiar but graceful patterns in slow-motion. This movement appears to mimic the swaying movements of the seaweed and kelp. Only close observation reveals movement of an eye or tiny fins. –Source

More pictures in this great post.