Biodiversity & Conservation

Short snouted seahorse - Hippocampus hippocampus - General information

Hippocampus hippocampus

Image Sue Daly - The seahorse Hippocampus hippocampus. Image width ca 9 cm.
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Distribution map

Hippocampus hippocampus recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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  • Berne
  • CITES
  • UK_BAP
  • OSPAR

General information

Key Icon Researched by: Marisa Sabatini and Susie Ballerstedt Text page icon Refereed by: Neil Garrick-Maidment

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy

Phylum Chordata Sea squirts, fish, reptiles, birds and mammals
Class Actinopterygii Ray-finned fish, e.g. sturgeon, eels, fin fish, gobies, blennies, and seahorses
Map icon Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland Distributed along the south coast of England, with substantial populations around the Channel Islands and Ireland (Garrick-Maidment & Jones, 2004).
Habitat information icon Habitat information Found in shallow muddy waters, in estuaries or inshore amongst seaweed and seagrasses, clinging by the tail or swimming upright. Hippocampus hippocampus can also be found in rocky areas.
Text page icon Description The seahorse has a very distinctive shape with the head set at an angle to the body. The trunk of the body is short and rather fat whilst the tail is tapering, curled and prehensile. Hippocampus hippocampus can be up to 15 cm in length. The snout is short and upturned, and less than one third the length of the head. There is a prominent spine above each eye. The dorsal fin has 16-18 rays, usually with a dark stripe running parallel to the margin. The pectoral fins have 13-15 rays. Body rings carry bony tubercles, giving a knobbly, angular appearance. The body is variable in colour: brown, orange, purple or black, sometimes with pale blotches.

This review can be cited as follows:

Marisa Sabatini and Susie Ballerstedt 2007. Hippocampus hippocampus. Short snouted seahorse. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 22/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=3506>