Unlike those of most animals, the cross-section of a seahorse tail is shaped like a square prism rather than the usual cylinder. Their skeleton consists of a bony armor that’s arranged into several ring like segments shaped like L’s around the vertebra.

 
Muscles attached to the vertebral column force the bony L-shaped segments in the seahorse’s tail to provide motion for grasping and holding onto objects such as sea grasses, mangrove roots, and coral reefs which camouflage them from evading predators.
 
The seahorse’s tail is a unique structure that allows many advantages than cylinder tails such as flexibility, motion, and the grasping of objects. 

Due to the effective nature of the tails, seahorse tails are now becoming inspiration for search-and-rescue equipment, medicine, and more!
 
To learn more about this study, check out Science Magazine’s report.