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Very little is known about the ecology of this species. It is one of the smallest seahorse species, measuring less than 2 cm in height (Lourie et al. 1999). It has a specific habitat, being found only on gorgonian corals Muricella plectana (Gomon 1997, Tackett and Tackett 1997, Whitley 1970) at depths ranging from 16–40 m (Tackett and Tackett 1997). Hippocampus bargibanti appears to form pairs and may be monogamous (Tackett and Tackett 1997).

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Major threats to the species are currently unknown, however, their attractive colouration makes it possible they could be collected for the aquaria trade.

The entire genus Hippocampus was listed in Appendix II of CITES in November 2002. Implementation of this listing will begin May 2004. Environment Australia lists the conservation status of H. bargibanti as Data Deficient (Pogonoski et al. 2002). The Australian populations of this species were moved under the Australian Wildlife Protection Act in 1998, so export permits are now required. The permits are only granted for approved management plans or captive bred animals. Such management was transferred under the new Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act in 2001. Many states also place their own controls on the capture and/or trade of syngnathid fishes. Very few data are available for this species. Further research on this species biology, ecology, habitat, abundance and distribution is needed.

• 4.3 Awareness & communications

There are no published data about population trends or total numbers of mature animals for this species. There is very little available information about its extent of occurrence or its area of occupancy. There have been no quantitative analyses examining the probability of extinction of this species. As a result, we have insufficient data to properly assess the species against any of the IUCN criteria, and propose a listing of data deficient (DD).

• 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.
• Hilton-Taylor, C. 2000. 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
• 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.
• Tackett, D. and Tackett, L. 1997. Pygmy seahorse. Asian Diver October/November 1997: 61-63.
• Whitley, G.P. 1970. In: Abstract of proceedings. Ordinary general meeting. 26th November, 1969. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 94 (3): p. 292-295.