Pygmy seahorse
Hippocampus bargibanti
- Scientific name
- Hippocampus bargibanti
- Group
- Reef fish
- Rarity
- Epic
- Where to see it
- Indo-Pacific & Red Sea
- Conservation status (IUCN)
- Data deficient
Did you know?
The pygmy seahorse measures barely 2 centimeters and lives only on one type of sea fan, whose color and bumpy texture it mimics so perfectly that it went unnoticed until its accidental discovery in 1969.
What defines this group — Reef fish
The bony fish that live against coral and rock: the living backdrop of almost every dive.
- A bony skeleton, scales, and a rigid gill cover closing over the gills.
- A swim bladder acts as a float: they hold their depth without swimming.
- Many change colour, pattern — sometimes even sex — over the course of their life.
Other species in this group
- Ocellaris clownfish
- Blue tang
- Red lionfish
- Spot-fin porcupinefish
- Mediterranean moray
- Clark's anemonefish