Hippocampus nalu

Hippocampus nalu, the Sodwana pygmy seahorse,[1][2] African pygmy seahorse[1] or Honeypot seahorse,[1] is a South African species of pygmy seahorse in the family Syngnathidae.[3]

Hippocampus nalu
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Syngnathiformes
Family: Syngnathidae
Genus: Hippocampus
Species:
H. nalu
Binomial name
Hippocampus nalu
Short G, Claassens L, Smith R, De Brauwer M, Hamilton H, Stat M, Harasti D, 2020

Discovery

The discovery of the species, which inhabits the waters of Sodwana Bay in South Africa, was revealed by an international team of researchers in May 2020.[4] This small pygmy seahorse is the first known pygmy seahorse that lives in the water around Africa. When a diver from the region gave a tip to the researchers, a team of the researchers later discovered this pygmy seahorse.[4] The team that made this discovery arrived in South Africa to look for the pygmy pipehorse and unintentionally found this new species.[5]

Description

The pygmy seahorses have honey brown colored skin including a reddish tail helping them to camouflage under sand as well as algae. They have a lot of camouflaging abilities and so they survive in most areas with coral and algae. With their tiny size, people have described finding them as a needle in a haystack. The nalu can only grow up til 2 centimeters and have a spiky pointed spines on their back compared to others which have flat tipped spines.[6]

References
  1. Short, Graham; Claassens, Louw; Smith, Richard; De Brauwer, Maarten; Hamilton, Healy; Stat, Michael; Harasti, David (2020). "Hippocampus nalu, a new species of pygmy seahorse from South Africa, and the first record of a pygmy seahorse from the Indian Ocean (Teleostei, Syngnathidae)". ZooKeys (934): 141–156. doi:10.3897/zookeys.934.50924. ISSN 1313-2970. PMC 7253503. PMID 32508498.
  2. Short, Graham; Claassens, Louw; Smith, Richard (2020-05-19). "Press Release: New Pygmy Seahorse Species South Africa" (PDF) (Press release). oceanrealmimages.com: Dr Richard Smith. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  3. Main, Douglas (2020-05-20). "New pygmy seahorse discovered, first of its kind in Africa". National Geographic. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  4. University of Leeds (2020-05-20). "Meet Africa's first pygmy seahorse species". Phys.org. Retrieved 2020-05-22.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  5. "pygmy seahorse". critter research.
  6. McGreevey, Nora (May 29, 2020). "Newly Discovered Pygmy Seahorse Species Is the Size of a Fingernail". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved June 22, 2020.


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