Dwarf seahorses
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Pygmy seahorse ( Hippocampus bargibanti ) |
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| Hippocampus bargibanti | ||||||||||||
| Whitley , 1970 |
The pygmy seahorse or pygmy seahorse ( Hippocampus bargibanti ) is one of the smallest seahorses, usually smaller than 2 cm. The animals were discovered by Georges Bargibant in 1969 when he was collecting sea fans for the Nouméa aquarium .
Distribution and way of life
Dwarf seahorses live in the coral reefs of the western Pacific from the Philippines , Indonesia to New Guinea , the Great Barrier Reef to New Caledonia . They are always well camouflaged in gorgonians, mostly of the genus Muricella , at depths of ten to fifty meters. The dwarf seahorses live in small groups and always cling to the gorgonian with their tails, as there is always a strong current in the coral's habitat.
features
Dwarf seahorses are only two inches long. Their body is covered by wart-like tubercles , which are usually darker and resemble the polyps of the coral ( mimetics ). There are two color forms. Animals that inhabit the red polyp gorgonian Muricella plectana have a light gray body and red tubercles; dwarf seahorses living in Muricella paraplectana are yellow with orange tubercles. Young animals are initially black-brown in color and later take on the color of the gorgonian they live on, regardless of the color of the parents. In this seahorse, the gill openings have grown together to form a single exit opening, which is in the center of the back of the head.
Systematics
The Australian ichthyologist JE Randall assumes that the pygmy seahorse forms a monophyletic group with the closely related Denise pygmy seahorse ( Hippocampus denise ) and other small, partially previously undescribed species , the “ bargibanti species complex”, which, according to a revision of the Seahorses would have to be placed in a new genus.
literature
- Rudie H. Kuiter : Seahorses: pipefish, shredded fish and their relatives , Ulmer (Eugen), 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3244-3
- Kai Velling: dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus bargibanti) , in: Koralle, marine aquaristic specialist magazine, No. 24 December 2003 / January 2004, Natur und Tier Verlag Münster, ISSN 1439-779X
- Daniel Knop: dwarf and pygmy seahorses. in KORALLE, marine aquarium specialist magazine, No. 60 December / January 2009, Natur und Tier Verlag Münster, ISSN 1439-779X
Web links
- Pygmy seahorses on Fishbase.org (English)
- Hippocampus bargibanti inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Project Seahorse, 2003. Retrieved September 2, 2013.