A seahorse is any of 46 species of small marine bony fish in the genus Hippocampus. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek hippókampos (ἱππόκαμπος), itself from híppos (ἵππος) meaning "horse" and kámpos (κάμπος) meaning "sea monster" or "sea animal". Having a head and neck suggestive of a horse, seahorses also feature segmented bony armour, an upright posture and a curled prehensile tail. Along with the pipefishes and seadragons they form the family Syngnathidae.
The leafy seadragon or Glauert's seadragon, is a marine fish. It is the only member of the genus Phycodurus in the family Syngnathidae, which includes seadragons, pipefish, and seahorses.
The Syngnathidae is a family of fish which includes seahorses, pipefishes, and seadragons. The name is derived from Ancient Greek: σύν, meaning "together", and γνάθος, meaning "jaw". The fused jaw is one of the traits that the entire family have in common.
The common seadragon or weedy seadragon is a marine fish of the order Syngnathiformes, which also includes the similar pipefishes, seahorses, and trumpetfishes among other species. Adult common seadragons are a reddish colour, with yellow and purple striped markings; they have small, leaf-like appendages that resemble kelp or seaweed fronds, providing camouflage, as well as a number of short spines for protection. As with seahorses and the other syngnathids, the seadragon has a similarly tubular snout and a fused, toothless jaw into which it captures small invertebrate prey at lightning speed. Males have narrower bodies and are darker than females. Seadragons have a long dorsal fin along the back and small pectoral fins on either side of the neck, which provide balance. Weedy seadragons can reach 45 cm (18 in) in length.
Pipefishes or pipe-fishes (Syngnathinae) are a subfamily of small fishes, which, together with the seahorses and seadragons, form the family Syngnathidae.
The Syngnathiformes are an order of ray-finned fishes that includes the leafy seadragons, sea moths, trumpetfishes and seahorses, among others.
The pygmy seahorses comprise several species of tiny seahorse in the syngnathid family or Syngnathidae. Family Syngnathidae is part of order Syngnathiformes, which contains fishes with fused jaws that suck food into tubular mouths. They are found in Southeast Asia in the Coral Triangle area. They are some of the smallest seahorse species in the world, typically measuring less than 2 centimetres (0.79 in) in height.
Hippocampus bargibanti, also known as Bargibant's seahorse or the pygmy seahorse, is a seahorse of the family Syngnathidae found in the central Indo-Pacific area.
Hippocampus denise, also known as Denise's pygmy seahorse or the yellow pygmy seahorse, is a seahorse of the family Syngnathidae native to the western Pacific.
The alligator pipefish or double-ended pipefish is a species of fish in the family Syngnathidae and is the only species in the monotypic genus Syngnathoides. It is found in shallow water in the tropical and subtropical Indo-Pacific, its range extending from East Africa to northern Australia. This fish lives in habitats of seagrass and seaweed, and hides by positioning itself vertically with its head down amidst the similar-coloured fronds of vegetation. The elongated, well-camouflaged body can reach 29 cm (11 in) in length. It feeds by sucking up its prey.
Ruby is a color that is a representation of the color of the cut and polished ruby gemstone and is a shade of red or pink.
The Hippocampinae are a subfamily of small marine fishes in the family Syngnathidae. Depending on the classification system used, it comprises either seahorses and pygmy pipehorses, or only seahorses.
Coleman's pygmy seahorse is a species of fish of the family Syngnathidae. It is found off of the coast of Lord Howe Island, Australia, although unconfirmed occurrences have been reported from Milne Bay and the Ryukyu Islands. It lives in coarse sand and Zostera and Halophila sea grasses at depths around 5 metres (16 ft). It is expected to feed on small crustaceans, similar to other seahorses. Ovoviviparous reproduction is also expected, with males brooding eggs in a pouch before giving birth to live young.
Phyllopteryx is a genus of small fishes, commonly called seadragons, in the family Syngnathidae that are found along the western and southern coasts of Australia. Since the 19th century, the weedy or common seadragon was the only known species, until the description of the ruby seadragon in 2015. They are closely related to other members of the Syngnathidae such as the leafy seadragon, pipefish and seahorses, which all exhibit male pregnancy.
The paradoxical seahorse is a small seahorse in the genus Hippocampus. The only known specimen was captured in 1995 and remained unnoticed in a museum until 2006.
The Great Southern Reef is a system of interconnected reefs that spans the southern coast of continental Australia and Tasmania and extends as far north as Brisbane to the east and Kalbarri to the west. It covers 71,000 km2 (27,000 sq mi) of ocean and straddles five states, running along the coast for 8,000 km (5,000 mi).
Nerida Gaye Wilson is an invertebrate marine molecular biologist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation who has interests in diversity, systematics, phylogeny, phylogeography and behavior. Wilson has been instrumental in demonstrating the level of marine cryptic species complexes in Antarctic waters, testing the circumpolar distribution paradigm with molecular data, and using interdisciplinary approaches to show how Antarctic diversity may have been generated. Her work with NOAA on Antarctic Marine Living Resources has been used to regulate exploratory benthic fisheries.
Acentronura breviperula, also known as the shortpouch pygmy pipehorse, dwarf pipehorse and northern little pipehorse, is a species of pygmy pipehorse, a member of the family Syngnathidae, the seahorses and pipefishes. It occurs in the Indo-Pacific region from the eastern Andaman Sea, through the Malay Archipelago to the Western Pacific as far east as New Guinea and the northern Great Barrier Reef.
Maroubra perserrata, also known as the sawtooth pipefish is a species of marine fish belonging to the family Syngnathidae. This species can be found at depths up to 20 meters along the coast of Australia from southern Queensland to southern Western Australia. While they can live in many different habitats, they are often found inhabiting openings in reefs and rocks that contain algae and invertebrates, which they likely rely on for camouflage. Reproduction occurs through ovoviviparity in which the males brood eggs for roughly 22 days before giving live birth. Maroubra perserrata is considered more mobile than many pipefish species due to its prehensile tail and reduced caudal fin.
Leafy seadragons are widely recognized for their strikingly derived characters, including leaf-like appendages, extreme spinal curvature, elongated craniofacial bones, and large body size. These make them phenotypic outliers in the teleost fish clade . Up until recently, the genome of leafy seadragons was unknown; but in 2022, their genome was fully annotated, along with weedy seadragons. Several significant features have been found in the leafy seadragon and weedy seadragon genomes, including divergent noncoding regions near a developmental gene responsible for integumentary growth; high genome wide repetitive DNA density; and recent transposable element expansions. Genetic diversity in leafy seadragons and weedy seadragons is relatively low as they have low-dispersal life history. Most recently, another species of seadragon was discovered and genetically sequenced: the ruby seadragon, which differs genetically and phenotypically from the two other seadragon species.
