Seahorse

A seahorse (also written sea-horse and sea horse) is any of 46

species of small marine bony fish in the genus Hippocampus. Seahorses
The genus name comes from the Ancient Greek hippókampos Temporal range: Lower Miocene to
(ἱππόκαμπος), itself from híppos (ἵππος) meaning "horse" and present –
kámpos (κάμπος) meaning "sea monster"[4][5] or "sea
animal".[6] Having a head and neck suggestive of a horse,
seahorses also feature segmented bony armour, an upright
posture and a curled prehensile tail.[7] Along with the
pipefishes and seadragons (Phycodurus and Phyllopteryx) they
form the family Syngnathidae.

Habitat
Seahorses are mainly found in shallow tropical and temperate
salt water throughout the world, from about 45°S to 45°N.[8]
They live in sheltered areas such as seagrass beds, estuaries,
coral reefs, and mangroves. Four species are found in Pacific
waters from North America to South America. In the Atlantic,
Short-snouted seahorse
Hippocampus erectus ranges from Nova Scotia to Uruguay.
(Hippocampus hippocampus)
H. zosterae, known as the dwarf seahorse, is found in the
Bahamas. Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Colonies have been found in European waters such as the
Thames Estuary.[9] Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Two species live in the Mediterranean Sea: H. guttulatus (the
long-snouted seahorse), H. hippocampus (the short-snouted Class: Actinopterygii
seahorse).[10][11] These species form territories; males stay Order: Syngnathiformes
within 1 m2 (10 sq ft) of habitat, while females range over
Family: Syngnathidae
about one hundred times that.[12]
Subfamily: Hippocampinae
Genus: Hippocampus
Description Rafinesque, 1810[1][2]

Seahorses range in size from 1.5 to 35 cm (0.6 to 13.8 in).[13] Type species
They are named for their equine appearance, with bent necks Syngnathus hippocampus
and long snouted heads and a distinctive trunk and tail. Linnaeus, 1758
Although they are bony fish, they do not have scales, but rather
Species
thin skin stretched over a series of bony plates, which are
arranged in rings throughout their bodies. Each species has a
distinct number of rings.[14] The armor of bony plates also see Species.
protects them against predators,[15] and because of this outer
skeleton, they no longer have ribs.[16] Seahorses swim upright, Synonyms
propelling themselves using the dorsal fin, another
characteristic not shared by their close pipefish relatives, which Acentronura Kaup, 1853
swim horizontally. Razorfish are the only other fish that swim
Farlapiscis Whitley, 1931[3]
vertically. The pectoral fins, located on either side of the head
behind their eyes, are used for steering. They lack the caudal Jamsus Ginsburg, 1937
fin typical of fishes. Their prehensile tail is composed of Macleayina Fowler, 1907
square-like rings that can be unlocked only in the most extreme
Phyllopteryx Swainson 1839
conditions.[17] They are adept at camouflage, and can grow and
reabsorb spiny appendages depending on their habitat.[18]

Unusual among fish, a seahorse has a flexible, well-defined neck. It also

sports a crown-like spine or horn on its head, termed a "coronet", which
is distinct for each species.[19]

Seahorses swim very poorly, rapidly fluttering a dorsal fin and using
pectoral fins to steer. The slowest-moving fish in the world is
H. zosterae (the dwarf seahorse), with a top speed of about 1.5 m (5 ft)
per hour.[20] Since they are poor swimmers, they are most likely to be
found resting with their prehensile tail wound around a stationary object.
They have long snouts, which they use to suck up food, and their eyes
can move independently of each other like those of a chameleon.[21]
Spiny seahorse H. histrix
from East Timor holding on to

Evolution and fossil record soft coral with its prehensile

tail

Anatomical evidence, supported by molecular, physical, and

genetic evidence, demonstrates that seahorses are highly modified
pipefish. The fossil record of seahorses, however, is very sparse.
The best known and best studied fossils are specimens of
Hippocampus guttulatus (though literature more commonly refers
to them under the synonym of H. ramulosus), from the Marecchia
River formation of Rimini Province, Italy, dating back to the
Lower Pliocene, about 3 million years ago. The earliest known
seahorse fossils are of two pipefish-like species, H. sarmaticus
and H. slovenicus, from the coprolitic horizon of Tunjice Hills, a H. jayakari
middle Miocene lagerstätte in Slovenia dating back about
13 million years.[22]

Molecular dating implies that pipefish and seahorses diverged during the Late Oligocene. This has led to
speculation that seahorses evolved in response to large areas of shallow water, newly created as the result
of tectonic events. The shallow water would have allowed the expansion of seagrass habitats that served
as camouflage for the seahorses' upright posture.[23] These tectonic changes occurred in the western
Pacific Ocean, pointing to an origin there, with molecular data suggesting two later, separate invasions of
the Atlantic Ocean.[24] In 2016, a study published in Nature found the seahorse genome to be the most
rapidly evolving fish genome studied so far.[25]

The evolution of seahorses from pipefish may have been an adaptation related to the biomechanics of
prey capture. The unique posture of the seahorse allows them to capture small shrimps at larger distances
than the pipefish is capable of.[26]

Reproduction
The male seahorse is equipped with a brood pouch on the ventral,
or front-facing, side of the tail. When mating, the female seahorse
deposits up to 1,500 eggs in the male's pouch. The male carries the
eggs for 9 to 45 days until the seahorses emerge fully developed,
but very small. The young are then released into the water, and the
male often mates again within hours or days during the breeding
season.[27]

Courtship
Before breeding, seahorses may court for several days. Scientists
believe the courtship behavior synchronizes the animals'
movements and reproductive states, so that the male can receive
the eggs when the female is ready to deposit them. During this Seahorse life-cycle
time, they may change color, swim side by side holding tails or
grip the same strand of sea grass with their tails, and wheel around
in unison in what is known as a "predawn dance". They eventually engage in a "true courtship dance"
lasting about 8 hours, during which the male pumps water through the egg pouch on his trunk which
expands and opens to display its emptiness. When the female's eggs reach maturity, she and her mate let
go of any anchors and drift upward snout-to-snout, out of the sea grass, often spiraling as they rise. They
interact for about 6 minutes, reminiscent of courtship.[28] The female inserts her ovipositor into the male's
brood pouch and deposits dozens to thousands of eggs. As the female releases her eggs, her body slims
while his swells. Both animals then sink back into the sea grass and she swims away.[28]

Phases of courtship
Seahorses exhibit four phases of courtship that are indicated by clear behavioral changes and changes in
the intensity of the courtship act. Phase 1, the initial courtship phase, typically takes place in the early
morning one or two days before physical copulation. During this phase the potential mates brighten in
colour, quiver, and display rapid side-to-side body vibrations. These displays are performed alternately by
both the male and the female seahorse. The following phases, 2 through 4, happen sequentially on the day
of copulation. Phase 2 is marked by the female pointing, a behaviour in which the female will raise her
head to form an oblique angle with her body. In phase 3 males will also begin the same pointing
behaviour in response to the female. Finally, the male and female will repeatedly rise upward together in
a water column and end in mid-water copulation, in which the female will transfer her eggs directly into
the male's brood pouch.[29]
Phase 1: Initial courtship
This initial courtship behaviour takes place about 30 minutes after dawn on each courtship day, until the
day of copulation. During this phase the males and females will remain apart during the night, but after
dawn they will come together in a side-by-side position, brighten, and engage in courtship behaviour for
about 2 to 38 minutes. There is repeated reciprocal quivering. This starts when the male approaches the
female, brightens and begins to quiver. The female will follow the male with her own display, in which
she will also brighten and quiver about 5 seconds later. As the male quivers, he will rotate his body
towards the female who will then rotate her body away. During phase 1 the tails of both seahorses are
positioned within 1 cm of each other on the same hold-fast and both of their bodies are angled slightly
outward from the point of attachment. However, the female will shift her tail attachment site, causing the
pair to circle their common hold-fast.[29]

Phase 2: Pointing and pumping

This phase begins with the female beginning her pointing posture, by leaning her body towards the male,
who will simultaneously lean away and quiver. This phase can last up to 54 minutes. Following phase 2 is
a latency period (typically between 30 minutes and four hours), during which the seahorses display no
courtship behaviour and females are not bright; males will usually display a pumping motion with their
body.[29]

Phase 3: Pointing – pointing

The third phase begins with the females brightening and assuming
the pointing position. The males respond with their own
brightening and pointing display. This phase ends with the male
departing. It usually lasts nine minutes and can occur one to six
times during courtship.[29]

Phase 4: Rising and copulation

The final courtship phase includes 5–8 bouts of courtship. Each
Seahorses in Phase 2 of courtship
bout of courtship begins with both the male and female anchored
to the same plant about 3 cm apart; usually they are facing each
other and are still bright in colour from the previous phase. During the first bout, following the facing
behaviour, the seahorses will rise upward together anywhere from 2 to 13 cm in a water column. During
the final rise, the female will insert her ovipositor and transfer her eggs through an opening into the
male's brood pouch.[29]

Fertilization
During fertilization in Hippocampus kuda, the brood pouch was found to be open for only six seconds
while egg deposition occurred. During this time seawater entered the pouch where the spermatozoa and
eggs meet in a seawater milieu. This hyperosmotic environment facilitates sperm activation and motility.
The fertilization is therefore regarded as being physiologically 'external' within a physically 'internal'
environment after the closure of the pouch.[30] It is believed that this protected form of fertilization
reduces sperm competition among males. Within the Syngnathidae (pipefishes and seahorses) protected
fertilization has not been documented in the pipefishes but the lack of any distinct differences in the
relation of testes size to body size suggests that pipefishes may also have evolved mechanisms for more
efficient fertilization with reduced sperm competition.[31]

Gestation
The fertilized eggs are then embedded in the pouch wall and
become surrounded by a spongy tissue.[32] The pouch provides
oxygen,[33] as well as a controlled environment incubator. Though
the egg yolk contributes nourishment to the developing embryo,
the male sea horses contribute additional nutrients such as energy-
rich lipids and also calcium to allow them to build their skeletal
system, by secreting them into the brood pouch that are absorbed Seahorses in Phase 4 of courtship
by the embryos. Further they also offer immunological protection,
osmoregulation, gas exchange and waste transport.[34]

The eggs then hatch in the pouch, where the salinity of the water is regulated; this prepares the newborns
for life in the sea.[28][35][36]

Birth
The number of young released by the male seahorse averages 100–1000 for most species, but may be as
low as 5 for the smaller species, or as high as 2,500.[32] When the fry are ready to be born, the male
expels them with muscular contractions. He typically gives birth at night and is ready for the next batch
of eggs by morning when his mate returns. Like almost all other fish species, seahorses do not nurture
their young after birth. Infants are susceptible to predators or ocean currents which wash them away from
feeding grounds or into temperatures too extreme for their delicate bodies. Less than 0.5% of infants
survive to adulthood, explaining why litters are so large. These survival rates are actually fairly high
compared to other fish, because of their protected gestation, making the process worth the great cost to
the father. The eggs of most other fish are abandoned immediately after fertilization.[36]

Reproductive roles
Reproduction is energetically costly to the male. This brings into
question why the sexual role reversal even takes place. In an
environment where one partner incurs more energy costs than the
other, Bateman's principle suggests that the lesser contributor
takes the role of the aggressor. Male seahorses are more
aggressive and sometimes fight for female attention. According to
Amanda Vincent of Project Seahorse, only males tail-wrestle and
snap their heads at each other. This discovery prompted further
study of energy costs. To estimate the female's direct contribution,
researchers chemically analyzed the energy stored in each egg. To
measure the burden on the males, oxygen consumption was used.
Diagram of a pregnant male By the end of incubation, the male consumed almost 33% more
seahorse (Hippocampus comes)[25]
oxygen than before mating. The study concluded that the female's
energy expenditure while generating eggs is twice that of males
during incubation, confirming the standard hypothesis.[28]

Why the male seahorse (and other members of the Syngnathidae)

carries the offspring through gestation is unknown, though some
researchers believe it allows for shorter birthing intervals, in turn
resulting in more offspring.[37] Given an unlimited number of
ready and willing partners, males have the potential to produce
17% more offspring than females in a breeding season. Also,
females have "time-outs" from the reproductive cycle 1.2 times
longer than those of males. This seems to be based on mate
choice, rather than physiology. When the female's eggs are ready,
she must lay them in a few hours or eject them into the water
column. Making eggs is a huge cost to her physically, since they
Pregnant male seahorse at the New
amount to about a third of her body weight. To protect against
York Aquarium
losing a clutch, the female demands a long courtship. The daily
greetings help to cement the bond between the pair.[38]

Monogamy
Though seahorses are not known to mate for life, many species form pair bonds that last through at least
the breeding season. Some species show a higher level of mate fidelity than others.[39][40] However,
many species readily switch mates when the opportunity arises. H. abdominalis and H. breviceps have
been shown to breed in groups, showing no continuous mate preference. Many more species' mating
habits have not been studied, so it is unknown how many species are actually monogamous, or how long
those bonds actually last.[41]

Although monogamy within fish is not common, it does appear to exist for some. In this case, the mate-
guarding hypothesis may be an explanation. This hypothesis states, "males remain with a single female
because of ecological factors that make male parental care and protection of offspring especially
advantageous."[42] Because the rates of survival for newborn seahorses are so low, incubation is essential.
Though not proven, males could have taken on this role because of the lengthy period the females require
to produce their eggs. If males incubate while females prepare the next clutch (amounting to a third of
body weight), they can reduce the interval between clutches.

Feeding habits
Seahorses use their long snouts to eat their food with ease. However, they are slow to consume their food
and have extremely simple digestive systems that lack a stomach, so they must eat constantly to stay
alive.[44] Seahorses are not very good swimmers, and for this reason they need to anchor themselves to
seaweed, coral or anything else that will keep the seahorse in place. They do this by using their prehensile
tails to grasp their object of choice.[45] Seahorses feed on small crustaceans floating in the water or
crawling on the bottom. With excellent camouflage seahorses ambush prey that floats within striking
range, sitting and waiting until an optimal moment.[44] Mysid shrimp and other small crustaceans are
favorites, but some seahorses have been observed eating other kinds of invertebrates and even larval fish.
In a study of seahorses, the distinctive head morphology was
found to give them a hydrodynamic advantage that creates
minimal interference while approaching an evasive prey. Thus the
seahorse can get very close to the copepods on which it
preys.[43][46] After successfully closing in on the prey without
alerting it, the seahorse gives an upward thrust and rapidly rotates
the head aided by large tendons that store and release elastic
energy, to bring its long snout close to the prey. This step is crucial Seahorses rely on stealth to
for prey capture, as oral suction only works at a close range. This ambush small prey such as
two-phase prey capture mechanism is termed pivot-feeding. [46][47] copepods. They use pivot feeding to
catch the copepod, which involves
Seahorses have three distinctive feeding phases: preparatory,
rotating their snout at high speed
expansive, and recovery. During the preparatory phase, the
and then sucking in the copepod.[43]
seahorse slowly approaches the prey while in an upright position,
after which it slowly flexes its head ventrally. In the expansive
phase, the seahorse captures its prey by simultaneously elevating its head, expanding the buccal cavity,
and sucking in the prey item. During the recovery phase, the jaws, head, and hyoid apparatus of the
seahorse return to their original positions.[48]

The amount of available cover influences the seahorse's feeding behaviour. For example, in wild areas
with small amounts of vegetation, seahorses will sit and wait, but an environment with extensive
vegetation will prompt the seahorse to inspect its environment, feeding while swimming rather than
sitting and waiting. Conversely, in an aquarium setting with little vegetation, the seahorse will fully
inspect its environment and makes no attempt to sit and wait.[49]

Threats of extinction
Because data is lacking on the sizes of the various seahorse
populations, as well as other issues including how many seahorses
are dying each year, how many are being born, and the number
used for souvenirs, there is insufficient information to assess their
risk of extinction, and the risk of losing more seahorses remains a
concern. Coral reefs and seagrass beds are deteriorating, reducing
viable habitats for seahorses.[50] Additionally, bycatch in many
areas causes high cumulative effects on seahorses, with an
estimated 37 million individuals being removed annually over 21
countries.[51] Seahorse hiding using camouflage

Aquaria
While many aquarium hobbyists keep them as pets, seahorses collected from the wild tend to fare poorly
in home aquaria. Many eat only live foods such as brine shrimp and are prone to stress, which damages
their immune systems and makes them susceptible to disease.[52]
In recent years, however, captive breeding has become more
popular. Such seahorses survive better in captivity, and are less
likely to carry diseases. They eat frozen mysidacea (crustaceans)
that are readily available from aquarium stores,[53] and do not
experience the stress of moving out of the wild. Although captive-
bred seahorses are more expensive, they take no toll on wild
populations.
Seahorses (Hippocampus erectus)
at the New England Aquarium
Seahorses should be kept in an aquarium with low flow and placid
tank mates. They are slow feeders, so fast, aggressive feeders will
leave them without food.[53] Seahorses can coexist with many species of shrimp and other bottom-
feeding creatures. Gobies also make good tank-mates. Keepers are generally advised to avoid eels, tangs,
triggerfish, squid, octopus, and sea anemones.[54]

Water quality is very important for the survival of seahorses in an aquarium. They are delicate species
which should not be added to a new tank. The water parameters are recommended to be as follows
although these fish may acclimatise to different water over time:

Temperature: 23–28 °C (73–82 °F)

pH: 8.1–8.4
Ammonia: 0 mg/L (0 ppm) (0.01 mg/L (0.01 ppm) may be tolerated for short periods)
Nitrite: 0 mg/L (0 ppm) (0.125 mg/L (0.125 ppm) may be tolerated for short periods)
S.G.: 1.021–1.024 at 23–24 °C (73–75 °F)
A water-quality problem will affect fish behaviour and can be shown by clamped fins, reduced feeding,
erratic swimming, and gasping at the surface.[55] Seahorses require vertical swimming space to perform
reproductive functions and to prevent depth-related health conditions like gas bubble disease, so a
refugium that is at least 20 inches by 51 centimeters deep is recommended inside an aquarium.[56]

Animals sold as "freshwater seahorses" are usually the closely related pipefish, of which a few species
live in the lower reaches of rivers. The supposed true "freshwater seahorse" called H. aimei is not a valid
species, but a synonym sometimes used for Barbour's and hedgehog seahorses. The latter, which is often
confused with the former, can be found in estuarine environments, but is not actually a freshwater fish.[57]

Consumption
Seahorse populations are thought to be endangered as a result of overfishing and habitat destruction.
Despite a lack of scientific studies or clinical trials,[58][59] the consumption of seahorses is widespread in
traditional Chinese medicine, primarily in connection with impotence, wheezing, nocturnal enuresis, and
pain, as well as labor induction.[60] Up to 20 million seahorses may be caught each year to be sold for
such uses.[61] Preferred species of seahorses include H. kellogii, H. histrix, H. kuda, H. trimaculatus, and
H. mohnikei.[60] Seahorses are also consumed by Indonesians, central Filipinos, and many other ethnic
groups.

Import and export of seahorses has been controlled under CITES since 15 May 2004. However,
Indonesia, Japan, Norway, and South Korea have chosen to opt out of the trade rules set by CITES.
 The problem may be exacerbated
by the growth of pills and capsules
as the preferred method of
ingesting seahorses. Pills are
cheaper and more available than
traditional, individually tailored
prescriptions of whole seahorses,
but the contents are harder to track.
Seahorses once had to be of a Seahorse and scorpion skewers as
certain size and quality before they street food
were accepted by TCM
Dried seahorse practitioners and consumers.
Declining availability of the preferred large, pale, and smooth seahorses
has been offset by the shift towards prepackaged preparations, which
makes it possible for TCM merchants to sell previously unused, or otherwise undesirable juvenile, spiny,
and dark-coloured animals. Dried seahorse retails from US$600 to $3000 per kilogram, with larger, paler,
and smoother animals commanding the highest prices. In terms of value based on weight, seahorses retail
for more than the price of silver and almost that of gold in Asia.[62]

Species
On the basis of the newest overall taxonomic review[63] of the genus Hippocampus with further new
species and partial taxonomic review,[64][65][66][67] the number of recognized species in this genus is
considered to be 46 (retrieved May 2020):

Hippocampus abdominalis Lesson, 1827 (big-belly seahorse)

Hippocampus algiricus Kaup, 1856 (West African seahorse)
Hippocampus angustus Günther, 1870 (narrow-bellied
seahorse)
Hippocampus barbouri Jordan & Richardson, 1908 (Barbour's
seahorse)
Hippocampus bargibanti Whitley, 1970 (pygmy seahorse)
Hippocampus breviceps Peters, 1869 (short-headed seahorse)
Hippocampus camelopardalis Bianconi, 1854 (giraffe seahorse)
Hippocampus capensis Boulenger, 1900 (Knysna seahorse)
Hippocampus casscsio Zhang, Qin, Wang & Lin, 2016[65] (Beibu
Bay seahorse)
Hippocampus colemani Kuiter, 2003 (Coleman's pygmy H. kuda, known as the
seahorse) "common seahorse"
Hippocampus comes Cantor, 1850 (tiger-tail seahorse)
Hippocampus coronatus Temminck & Schlegel, 1850 (crowned
seahorse)
Hippocampus curvicuspis Fricke, 2004 (New Caledonian seahorse)
Hippocampus dahli J. D. Ogilby, 1908 (lowcrown seahorse)
Hippocampus debelius Gomon & Kuiter, 2009 (softcoral seahorse)
Hippocampus denise Lourie & Randall, 2003 (Denise's pygmy seahorse)
Hippocampus erectus Perry, 1810 (lined seahorse)
Hippocampus fisheri Jordan & Evermann, 1903 (Fisher's
seahorse)
Hippocampus guttulatus Cuvier, 1829 (long-snouted seahorse)
Hippocampus haema Han, Kim, Kai & Senou, 2017[66] (Korean
seahorse)
Hippocampus hippocampus (Linnaeus, 1758) (short-snouted
seahorse)
Hippocampus histrix Kaup, 1856 (spiny seahorse)
Hippocampus ingens Girard, 1858 (Pacific seahorse)
Hippocampus japapigu Short, R. Smith, Motomura, Harasti & H.
[64] (Japanese pygmy seahorse)
Hamilton, 2018
Hippocampus jayakari Boulenger, 1900 (Jayakar's seahorse) H. subelongatus, known as
Hippocampus jugumus Kuiter, 2001 (collared seahorse) the "West Australian
seahorse"
Hippocampus kelloggi Jordan & Snyder, 1901 (great seahorse)
Hippocampus kuda Bleeker, 1852 (spotted seahorse)
Hippocampus minotaur Gomon, 1997 (bullneck seahorse)
Hippocampus mohnikei Bleeker, 1854 (Japanese seahorse)
Hippocampus nalu Short, Claassens, R. Smith, De Brauwer, H.
Hamilton, Stat & Harasti, 2020[67] (South African pygmy seahorse
or Sodwana pygmy seahorse)
Hippocampus paradoxus Foster & Gomon, 2010 (paradoxical
seahorse)
Hippocampus patagonicus Piacentino & Luzzatto, 2004
(Patagonian seahorse)
Hippocampus planifrons Peters, 1877 (flatface seahorse, false-
eye seahorse)
Hippocampus pontohi Lourie & Kuiter, 2008 (Pontoh's pygmy
seahorse) H. whitei, known as "White's
Hippocampus pusillus Fricke, 2004 (pygmy thorny seahorse) seahorse"
Hippocampus reidi Ginsburg, 1933 (longsnout seahorse)
Hippocampus satomiae Lourie & Kuiter, 2008 (Satomi's pygmy
seahorse)
Hippocampus sindonis Jordan & Snyder, 1901 (Sindo's seahorse)
Hippocampus spinosissimus Weber, 1913 (hedgehog seahorse)
Hippocampus subelongatus Castelnau, 1873 (West Australian seahorse)
Hippocampus trimaculatus Leach, 1814 (longnose seahorse)

Hippocampus tristis Castelnau, 1872 (Lazarus Seahorse) [68][69]

Hippocampus tyro Randall & Lourie, 2009 (Tyro seahorse)
Hippocampus waleananus Gomon & Kuiter, 2009[64] (Walea soft coral pygmy seahorse)
Hippocampus whitei Bleeker, 1855 (White's seahorse)
Hippocampus zebra Whitley, 1964 (zebra seahorse)
Hippocampus zosterae Jordan & Gilbert, 1882 (dwarf seahorse)
Pygmy seahorses
Pygmy seahorses are those members of the genus that are less than
15 mm (9⁄16 in) tall and 17 mm (11⁄16 in) wide. Previously the term
was applied exclusively to the species H. bargibanti but since
1997, discoveries have made this usage obsolete. The species
H. minotaur, H. denise, H. colemani, H. pontohi, H. severnsi,
H. satomiae, H. waleananus, H. nalu, H. japapigu have been
described. Other species that are believed to be unclassified have
also been reported in books, dive magazines and on the Internet.
They can be distinguished from other species of seahorse by their Hippocampus satomiae (Satomi's
12 trunk rings, low number of tail rings (26–29), the location in pygmy seahorse) attached to coral
which young are brooded in the trunk region of males and their
extremely small size.[70] Molecular analysis (of ribosomal RNA)
of 32 Hippocampus species found that H. bargibanti belongs in a separate clade from other members of
the genus and therefore that the species diverged from the other species in the ancient past.[24]

Most pygmy seahorses are well camouflaged and live in close association with other organisms including
colonial hydrozoans (Lytocarpus and Antennellopsis), coralline algae (Halimeda), and sea fans
(Muricella, Annella, and Acanthogorgia). This combined with their small size accounts for why most
species have only been noticed and classified since 2001.[70]

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Further reading
Vincent, Amanda C.J.; Sadler, Laila M. (1995). "Faithful pair bonds in wild seahorse,
Hippocampus whitei". Animal Behaviour. 50 (6): 1557–69. doi:10.1016/0003-
3472(95)80011-5 ([Link]
S2CID 53192875 ([Link]
Vincent, Amanda C.J. (1995). "A role for daily greetings in maintaining seahorse pair bonds".
Animal Behaviour. 49: 258–260. doi:10.1016/0003-3472(95)80178-2 ([Link]
6%2F0003-3472%2895%2980178-2). S2CID 54391512 ([Link]
pusID:54391512).
Vincent, Amanda C.J. (1990). "A seahorse father makes a good mother". Natural History.
12: 34–43.
Vincent, Amanda C.J.; Woodroffe, Rosie (1994). "Mothers little helpers: patterns of male
care in mammals". Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 9 (8): 294–7.
Bibcode:1994TEcoE...9..294W ([Link]
doi:10.1016/0169-5347(94)90033-7 ([Link]
3-7). PMID 21236858 ([Link]
Sparks, John (1999). Battle of the Sexes: The Natural History of Sex ([Link]
ails/battleofsexesthe00spar). London: BBC Books. ISBN 978-0-563-37145-8.
Teske, Peter R.; Hamilton, Healy; Matthee, Conrad A.; Barker, Nigel P. (15 August 2007).
"Signatures of seaway closures and founder dispersal in the phylogeny of a circumglobally
distributed seahorse lineage" ([Link]
BMC Evolutionary Biology. 7 (1): 138. Bibcode:2007BMCEE...7..138T ([Link]
[Link]/abs/2007BMCEE...7..138T). doi:10.1186/1471-2148-7-138 ([Link]
6%2F1471-2148-7-138). ISSN 1471-2148 ([Link]
PMC 1978501 ([Link] PMID 17697373
([Link]

Retrieved from "[Link]