Walea pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus waleananus)

Scientific name: Hippocampus waleananus Gomon & Kuiter, 2009

Walea pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus waleananus)

The Walea pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus waleananus) is a marine fish of the family Syngnathidae. Native range: Asia, Indonesia. Known only from the Togean Islands in Tomini Bay, central Sulawesi.

Biology

Extremely small (height 16.8mm, standard length 17.8mm); 12 trunks rings; tail elongate with 32 tail rings; 12 dorsal fin rays; 9 pectoral fin rays; anal fin absent (at least in one sex); eggs apparently brooded within trunk; medium length snout that lacks a bulbous tip; raised, angular coronet; fused gill openings on midline behind coronet supported by raised cleithral girdle; enlarged knob-like structures on head and trunk; paired laterally directed knob-like structures each with short fleshy filament on superior trunk ridge of the fifth trunk ring; last 28 tail rings each with small paired knobs on inferior tail ridge, fifth, ninth and twelfth tail rings with bilaterally paired enlarged knob-like structures on superior tail ridges; pale pinkish to yellowish with red to brown blotches, radiating bands from eye; body protuberances white, appearing as white spots.

Source: FishBase, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

Species facts

Scientific name
Hippocampus waleananus
Family
Syngnathidae (Pipefishes and seahorses)
Order
Syngnathiformes (Pipefishes and Seahorses)
Class
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Maximum length
1.8
Environment
Marine; benthopelagic, usually 5 - 20 m
Climate
Tropical
Distribution
Asia: Indonesia. Known only from the Togean Islands in Tomini Bay, central Sulawesi.
Conservation status (IUCN)
Not Evaluated
Threat to humans
Harmless
Uses
Fisheries:
Resilience
High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.)

Sources

Taxonomy, distribution and biology data: FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds.), licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

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