December 12, 2014

How Much is that Bargibant's Seahorse in the Window?




Look closely. See the little head? There’s a red circle around it. :)


The Bargibant’s seahorse (Hippocampus bargibanti) is an extremely cute little syngnathid, reaching only .79 inches (2 cm) in length and living primarily fixed to sea fans (Gorgonacea) with their li’l tails. Because of the extreme camouflage, Bargibant’s seahorses weren’t discovered until scientists were studying the sea fans they were attached to in a lab.

There are many other different tiny seahorses like this, such as the Denise’s seahorse (H. denise), the Satomi’s seahorse (H. satomiae, the smallest seahorse in the world at just 1.4 cm), Japanese seahorse (discovered, but has not been given a binomial name. I call it “H. japonensis”) Severn’s seahorse (Hippocampus severnsi), Pontoh’s seahorse (H. pontoh), and the Walea soft coral pygmy seahorse (H. waleananus), which has a name that’s longer than the fish itself.

Bargibant’s seahorses live primarily on reefs (sea fans, duh) in the western central Pacific Ocean and live primarily on small copepods (Copepoda).

PS: FIFTIETH post. ALREADY?

O_o

No comments:

Post a Comment