Japanese pygmy seahorse

The Japanese pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus japapigu), is a Japanese species of seahorse in the family Syngnathidae.[1] It is also sometimes known as the Japan pig.[2]

Japanese pygmy seahorse
A is the male; B is the female.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Syngnathiformes
Family: Syngnathidae
Genus: Hippocampus
Species:
H. japapigu
Binomial name
Hippocampus japapigu
Short, Smith, Motomura, Harasti & Hamilton, 2018

Distribution and habitat

It lives in Northwestern Pacific near Japan, and lives at depths from 5 to 22 meters, but its usually found at 10 to 13 meters,[1] but does not live with any specific species to host, and instead clings onto algal turfs in subtropical reefs.[3]

As of 2018, H. japapigu is only known to be found in Japan, including Kashiwa-jima Island, Sukumo Bay; Kushimoto, Kii Peninsula; Osezaki, Izu Peninsula; the Izu Islands of Miyake and Hachijo; Sagami Bay; and Chichi-jima, Ogasawara Islands.[4]:44

The type locality was collected off Imasaki, Okago, Hachijo-jima Island, Izu Islands at a depth of 10 m (33 ft).[4]:30

Description and feeding

It reaches a length of 1.6 cm, and contains 28 tail rings, 14 dorsal fin rays, 9 pectoral fin rays, and 4 subdorsal rings.[1] It is the size of a jellybean, and its coloration is made for hiding in algae-covered reefs, clinging to soft corals while feeding on plankton. It has a pair of wing-like protrusions on its neck; unlike other species, it contains only one pair instead of two, and is the only seahorse in the world known to have a bony ridge running down its back.[2]

Taxonomic history

In 2013, after completing his PhD on the biology of the Bargibant's and Denise's pygmy seahorses, Richard Smith went to a fish biology conference in Okinawa in 2013, after which he photographed the Japanese pygmy seahorse on several dives off of Hachijo-jima, one of the Izu Islands about 180 miles from Tokyo. There he found about a dozen specimens.[5]

The species description was published by Short and colleagues in a 2018 issue of ZooKeys; it was based on one female holotype, a male and a female paratype, and two photographs of additional specimens. The holotype and one paratype were deposited at the Burke Museum at the University of Washington; the other paratype was deposited at the Kagoshima University Museum.[4]:30

Short and colleagues proposed Japanese pygmy seahorse as the English and Japanese common names for the species. The specific epithet comes from its colloquial Japanese name: Japan Pig or Japapigu.[4]:45

References
  1. Capuli, Estelita Emily (2019). Froese, R.; Pauly, D. (eds.). "Hippocampus japapigu". FishBase. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  2. Jewett, Katie (2018). "Academy scientists describe 229 species in 2018". California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  3. "Japanese Pygmy Seahorse". Dr Richard Smith - Ocean Realm Images. 2018-08-03. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  4. Short, Graham; Smith, Richard; Moromura, Hiroyuki; Harasti, David; Hamilton, Healy (2018). "Hippocampus japapigu, a new species of pygmy seahorse from Japan, with a redescription of H. pontohi (Teleostei, Syngnathidae)". ZooKeys (779): 27–49. doi:10.3897/zookeys.779.24799. PMC 6110155. PMID 30166895.
  5. Smith, Richard (Dec 2018). "The More You See, The More You Know". Wildlife Australia. 55 (4): 20–21.
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