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Hippocampus guttulatus  Cuvier, 1829

Long-snouted seahorse
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Hippocampus guttulatus
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Syngnathiformes (Pipefishes and seahorses) > Syngnathidae (Pipefishes and seahorses) > Hippocampinae
Etymology: Hippocampus: Greek, ippos = horse + Greek,kampe = curvature (Ref. 45335).   More on author: Cuvier.

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Marine; brackish; demersal; non-migratory; depth range 1 - 20 m (Ref. 52034).   Temperate, preferred ?; 63°N - 20°N, 32°W - 36°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Eastern Atlantic: British Isles and the Netherlands to Morocco, Canary Islands (Ref. 4509), Madeira, and the Azores, including the Mediterranean (Ref. 89253). Although morphologically smaller than specimens from other areas, recent genetic data confirms that specimens from the Black Sea are in fact long-snouted seahorses (Ref. 89255). International trade is monitored through a licensing system (CITES II, since 5.15.04) and a minimum size of 10 cm applies. Listed in Appendix II (Mediterranean, as Hippocampus ramulosus) of the Bern Convention (2002) and in Appendix II (as Hippocampus spp.) at CITES (2009).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 12.5  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 21.5 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 79902); 18.0 cm OT (female)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 17-20. Description (based on 46 specimens): Adult height: 8.5-18.0cm. Rings: 11 + 37-39 (35-40). Snout length: 2.3-2.8 in head length. Dorsal fin rays: 19-20 (17-20) covering 2+1 rings. Pectoral fin rays: 16-18. Coronet: small but distinct, with 5 rounded knobs or blunt points; horizontal plate in front of coronet as high as coronet itself, with a more or less prominent spine at its front edge; coronet not joined smoothly to neck. Spines: medium to well-developed with blunt tips. Other distinctive characters: prominent rounded eye spines; often with a mane of thick skin fronds on neck and head. Color pattern: from dark green to brown (Refs. 52034, 89230); prominent white spots on body (often with a dark ring around them) which tend to coalesce into horizontal wavy lines103; may be variously mottled or with pale ‘saddles’ across dorsolateral surface.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Commonly referred to as Hippocampus ramulosus. Occurs mostly in shallow inshore waters including littoral lagoons (Ref. 9937) among algae and eel grass (Zostera or Posidonia), or among rocks and in gravel bottoms (Ref. 52034). Juveniles were observed to recruit to vegetated habitats at 8.8- 10.4 cm length (Ref. 79902). Adults (from 12.5 cm length) appear to maintain very restricted home ranges (19.9 ± 12.4 m2) over multiple years making limited daily movements. (Ref. 79902). May move to deeper waters during winter (Ref. 53712). Like other seahorse species, adult dispersals over large distances is probably caused by strong wave action and currents during storms or when it anchors itself to floating debris (Ref. 52034). Is thought to live for 4-7 years (Ref. 79902). Because of its early age at maturity, rapid growth rate, short generation time and multiple breeding cycles during each spawning season, resilience is thought to be high (Ref. 88171). However, in tropical areas where seagrass beds are regularly exploited for other species of seahorses for the aquarium trade, traditional medicine, etc., populations have been quickly eradicated (Ref. 89253). Can be maintained in an aquarium environment if trained to feed on dead animals (Ref. 88171). Length type OT refers to height (= TL - head length), Ref. 30915.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Ovoviviparous. During the mating season, mature males and females have been observed to change hue, i.e., become brighter, when courting (Refs. 52034, 89259). Female deposits her eggs on the brood pouch of the male which is found under the tail (Ref. 205). Gestation usually lasts 21 days (Ref. 89322) and brood sizes up to 581 have been reported (Refs. 53712, 79902, 89322). Young are expelled from the pouch measuring 1.5 cm after 3 weeks of incubation. Size at birth ranges from 0.6-1.4 cm length (Ref. 79902). Newly hatched young are planktonic for at least 8 weeks (Ref. 53712).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Lourie, S.A., A.C.J. Vincent and H.J. Hall, 1999. Seahorses: an identification guide to the world's species and their conservation. Project Seahorse, London. 214 p. (Ref. 30915)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)

CITES (Ref. 94142)

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; aquarium: commercial
FAO(Publication : search) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | DiscoverLife | DORIS | ECOTOX | Faunafri | Fishes of Iran | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00302 (0.00165 - 0.00553), b=2.94 (2.77 - 3.11), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278):  3.5   ±0.50 se; Based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 69278):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Fec=581).
Prior r = 0.97, 2 SD range = 0.48 - 1.99, log(r) = -0.03, SD log(r) = 0.36, Based on: 1 M, 1 K, 1 tgen, 1 Fec records
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (24 of 100) .
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.