The pygmy seahorses comprise several species of tiny seahorse in the syngnathid family or Syngnathidae (seahorses and pipefish). Family Syngnathidae is part of order Syngnathiformes, which contains fishes with fused jaws that suck food into tubular mouths. They are found in Southeast Asia in the Coral Triangle area. They are some of the smallest seahorse species in the world, typically measuring less than 2 centimetres (0.79 in) in height.[1][2]

The first pygmy seahorse known to science was Hippocampus bargibanti. At least six more species were named after 2000. The first species discovered lives exclusively on fan corals and matches their colour and appearance. So effective is pygmy seahorse camouflage that it was discovered only when a host gorgonian was being examined in a laboratory. In 1969 a New Caledonian scientist, Georges Bargibant, was collecting specimens of Muricella spp gorgonians for the Nouméa museum and whilst one of these was on his dissection table he happened to notice a pair of tiny seahorses. The next year they were officially named by Whitley as Bargibant's pygmy seahorse.[3] Other species live on soft corals or are free-ranging among seagrasses and algae.[4]

Description

The pygmy seahorse is both tiny and well camouflaged. It is very difficult to spot amongst the sea grasses, soft corals, or gorgonians (sea fans) that it inhabits. Other distinctive pygmy seahorse characteristics include a fleshy head and body, a very short snout, and a long, prehensile tail. With their short snouts, they have the appearance of baby animals. Pygmy seahorses are 14–27 millimetres (0.55–1.06 in) long from the tip of the tail to the end of the snout, so that their vertical height while swimming is still smaller.[5] An adult may be as small as 13 millimetres (0.51 in) long.[6]

True pygmy seahorses have distinctive morphological markers.[5] Unlike other seahorses, they have a single gill opening on the back of the head, instead of two on the sides.

Males and females are distinguished by openings at the bottom of the trunk: females have a tiny, raised round pore for extruding eggs and males have a fore-and-aft slit for accepting them.[5]

Similarly to the rest of seahorses, males brood their young in a pouch on their trunk.

Species

Well-camouflaged pygmy seahorse on a gorgonian coral Muricella sp. See this image to identify the pygmy seahorse.
A pygmy seahorse found at a depth of around 32 metres (105 ft) at Tulamben near a shipwreck
Pygmy seahorse found while diving Nudi's Fall, Lembeh, Indonesia

The known species are these:

Other dwarf species

Other small seahorses are sometimes called pygmy seahorses, but lack the single gill opening and trunk brooding that distinguish the true pygmy seahorse. They can be called dwarf seahorses:[5]

References

  1. ^ Lourie, S.A., Foster, S.J., Cooper, E.W.T. and Vincent, A.C.J. (2004) A Guide to the Identification of Seahorses. Project Seahorse and TRAFFIC North America, Washington D.C.
  2. ^ Bargibant's seahorse. Accessed 2012-11-02.
  3. ^ Smith, Richard E. Hippocampus bargibanti Archived 2016-04-13 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Reijnen, B.T., van der Meij, S.E.T., van Ofwegen, L.P. (2011) "Fish, fans and hydroids: host species of pygmy seahorses." ZooKeys 103: 1-26.
  5. ^ a b c d e Smith, Richard E. Pygmy seahorse research
  6. ^ Fishes of Australia: H. bargibanti. Accessed 2012-11-02.
  7. ^ Smith, Richard E. "Hippocampus bargibanti". Ocean Realm Images. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  8. ^ Common Pygmy Seahorse Accessed 2012-10-31.
  9. ^ Smith, Richard E. "Hippocampus denise". Ocean Realm Images. Archived from the original on 27 March 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  10. ^ Denise's Pygmy Seahorse Accessed 2012-10-31.
  11. ^ a b Smith, Richard E. "Hippocampus pontohi". Ocean Realm Images. Archived from the original on 27 March 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  12. ^ a b Weedy Pygmy Seahorse Accessed 2012-10-31.
  13. ^ Smith, Richard E. "Hippocampus satomiae". Ocean Realm Images. Archived from the original on 27 March 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  14. ^ Satomi's Pygmy Seahorse Accessed 2012-10-31.
  15. ^ Smith, Richard E. "Hippocampus severnsi". Ocean Realm Images. Archived from the original on 27 March 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  16. ^ Smith, Richard E. "Hippocampus waleananus". Ocean Realm Images. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  17. ^ Coleman's Pygmy Seahorse Accessed 2012-10-31.
  18. ^ Short, Graham; Smith, Richard; Motomura, Hiroyuki; Harasti, David; Hamilton, Healy (2018). "Hippocampus japapigu, a new species of pygmy seahorse from Japan, with a redescription of H. Pontohi (Teleostei, Syngnathidae)". ZooKeys (779): 27–49. Bibcode:2018ZooK..779...27S. doi:10.3897/zookeys.779.24799. PMC 6110155. PMID 30166895.
  19. ^ "New Species of Pygmy Seahorse Discovered: Hippocampus japapigu | Biology | Sci-News.com". Breaking Science News | Sci-News.com. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  20. ^ University of Leeds (2020-05-20). "Meet Africa's first pygmy seahorse species". Phys.org. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  21. ^ Corlett, Eva (6 October 2021). "Pygmy pipehorse discovered in New Zealand given Māori name in 'world first'". The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2021-10-06.

This article incorporates text from the ARKive fact-file "Pygmy seahorse" under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License and the GFDL.