July 4th, 2014

Featured observation: Barbigant's pygmy seahorse by maractwin

Our latest featured observation comes to us from Indonesia’s Flores Sea. iSeahorse user maractwin spotted a group of five Bargibant’s pygmy seahorses, Hippocampus bargibanti. This is no small feat, considering just how well-camouflaged these creatures are against their gorgonian coral homes. Then again you would expect a keen eye from such an avid naturalist – in addition to his 19 observations of six different seahorse species, Mark has logged over 9000 observations of almost 3000 species on iNaturalist!

Spotted by Mark off of Banta Island near Komodo National Park (an epicenter of marine fish and seahorse diversity), these pygmy seahorses are some of the smallest in the world, reaching a maximum length of only about three centimetres! Males brood their young on their trunk rather than just below it like most seahorse species.

This species is listed as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species because very few studies have focused on them to date. iSeahorse observations like this one will help us properly assess the species in the near future as we find out more about it.

Great work Mark – keep those observations coming!!

July 21st, 2014

The next featured observation comes from the United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf. iSeahorse contributor shamsa_alhameli managed to spot a sea pony (Hippocampus fuscus) in a seagrass bed. And she managed to snap a great photo in the process!

But it wasn’t just any seagrass bed that this seahorse was found in. In fact, this seahorse has little to worry about as these waters are part of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve – the Marawah Biosphere Reserve. Designated in 2007, the reserve is home to a wide variety of important marine habitats, including coral reefs, mangroves, unique macroalgae outcrops. The area is a crucial nursery and spawning grounds for many fish species in addition to seahorses, and is also home to endangered hawksbill and green turtles. Not to mention it’s the second largest aggregation of dugongs in the world.

The sea pony is currently listed as ‘Data Deficient’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. We hope that this and more observations like it will give us enough information to perform a proper conservation assessment of the species in the near future. Thanks for contributing to science and marine conservation shamsa_alhameli!!!