With their leafy appendages, Leafy Sea Dragons blend perfectly into kelp beds, often going unnoticed by even experienced dive photographers until they move. These sea dragons, more mysterious and spectacular than any ocean fish, are close relatives of sea horses but have larger bodies and leaf-like appendages that help them hide among seaweed. They feed on larval fishes and amphipods, such as small shrimp-like crustaceans called mysids ("sea lice"), sucking up their prey with their small mouths.

Leafy Sea Dragons reach mating age at one year and full size by two years. In captivity, they can live over ten years. According to an article by Peter DeMarco of the *Boston Globe*, aquariums pay up to $1,500 each for sea dragons, making them literally worth more than their weight in gold. Their appetite for about 100 mysid shrimp daily can be costly, as each shrimp costs between 65 to 85 cents. This expense has led to the development of a mysid-culturing program at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California.