Denise pygmy seahorse
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Denise pygmy seahorse ( Hippocampus denise ) |
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| Hippocampus denise | ||||||||||||
| Lourie and Randall , 2003 |
The Denise pygmy seahorse ( Hippocampus denise ) is one of the smallest known seahorses. The fish were discovered in 2001 by the Australian underwater photographer Rudie Kuiter , but initially thought to be pups of the pygmy seahorse ( Hippocampus bargibanti ). In 2003, after investigations of young pygmy seahorses and the observation of hippocampus denise males, they were recognized as a separate species, described and named after the underwater photographer Denise Nielsen-Tackett.
Distribution and way of life
Denise pygmy seahorses live in the coral reefs of the western Pacific from Indonesia to Vanuatu and Palau . They are always well camouflaged in gorgonians of the genera Annella , Echinogorgia and Muricella at depths of thirteen to ninety meters below sea level. The fish are livelier than the dwarf seahorses and swim around freely in their gorgonians.
features
Denise pygmy seahorses grow to be 1.35 centimeters long. Their monochrome yellow or orange body is covered by wart-like tubercles, which are much smaller than those of the dwarf seahorse. In this way they are better protected in their most important host coral Annella reticulata , which can completely retract its polyps into the branches. The Denise pygmy seahorse often moves in its host gorgonian and is significantly more active than Hippocampus bargibanti .
literature
- Daniel Knop : New dwarf seahorses. Hippocampus denise. In: Coral. No. 24 December 2003 / January 2004 ISSN 1439-779X
- Daniel Knop: Denise pygmy seahorses. Hippocampus denise. In: Coral. No. 38, April / May 2006.
- Daniel Knop: dwarf and pygmy seahorses. in KORALLE, marine aquarium specialist magazine, No. 60 December / January 2009.
Web links
- Denise pygmy seahorses on Fishbase.org (English)
- Hippocampus denise inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Project Seahorse, 2003. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
Individual evidence
- ^ Sara A. Lourie, John E. Randall: A New Pygmy Seahorse, Hippocampus denise (Teleostei: Syngnathidae), from the Indo-Pacific. (PDF; 518 kB) In: Zoological Studies . 42 (2), 2003, pp. 284-291