Taxonomic notes: Section empty

Unknown. Known only from four museum specimens collected at depths of 64–110 m off Eden (approximately 37°S) NSW, southwards to central Bass Strait (38°56’S), Victoria, between the Australian mainland and Tasmania (Lourie et al. 1999, Kuiter 2000). Collected between circa 1927 and 1981 (Pogonoski et al. 2002).

Follow the link below for map of the known range of H. minotaur.

Hippocampus minotaur has been trawled from depths of 64 to 110 m on fine sandy or hard bottoms, possibly in association with gorgonian corals (Gomon 1997). Noticeable bud-like processes are present on the dorsal surface of the tail of H. minotaur, reminiscent of those on the body of H. bargibanti that are used for camouflage in soft coral fans. This may suggest that they inhabit gorgonians, but collection information to date has given scant habitat information (Gomon 1997).

Unknown.

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Trawling presents an unknown threat.

• 5.4.6 Motivation Unknown/Unrecorded

The following information is taken from Lourie et al. (2004):
1. Entire genus listed on Appendix II of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), effective May 2004.
2. Australian populations were moved under the Australian Wildlife Protection Act in 1998 and placed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act in 2001 (Lourie et al. 2004).
3. Listed by Environment Australia as Data Deficient

Information below is taken from Pogonoski et al. (2002):
1. All syngnathids are listed as Protected Aquatic Biota in Victoria.
2. The Tasmanian Living Marine Resources Management Act 1995 prohibits the take of all syngnathids in Tasmania (by non-permit holders, since Sep 1994).
3. All syngnathids are subject to the export controls of the Commonwealth Wildlife Protection (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1982 from 1 January 1998.
4. All syngnathids and solenostomids are listed as marine species under s248 of the EPBC Act 1999.
5. No Australian Society of Fish Biology Listing.

Hippocampus minotaur is very small and lives in deep (up to more than 100 m) water; trawling poses an unknown threat. No information is presently available on density, distribution, ecology, behaviour, population trends, genetic structure or life history traits. More data are needed to accurately determine the conservation status of this species.

• Baillie, J. and Groombridge, B. (eds). 1996. 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
• Gomon, M.F. 1997. A remarkable new pygmy seahorse (Syngnathidae: Hippocampus) from South-Eastern Australia, with a description of H. bargibanti Whitley from New Caledonia. Memoirs of the Museum of Victoria 56(1): 245–253.
• Kuiter, R.H. 2000a. Seahorses, Pipefishes and their Relatives. A Comprehensive Guide to Syngnathiformes. TMC Publishing, Chorleywood, UK.
• Kuiter, R.H. 2001. Revision of the Australian seahorses of the genus Hippocampus (Syngnathiformes: Syngnathidae) with descriptions of nine new species. Records of the Australian Museum 53: 293-340.
• 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, University of British Columbia and World Wildlife Fund, Washington D.C.
• Lourie, S.A., Vincent, A.C.J. and Hall, H.J. 1999. Seahorses: an identification guide to the world's species and their conservation. Project Seahorse, London, U.K.
• Pogonoski, J.J., Pollard, D.A. and Paxton, J.R. 2002. Conservation overview and action plan for Australian threatened and potentially threatened marine and estuarine fishes. Environment Australia, Canberra, Australia.