Bargibant's Pygmy Seahorse

Hippocampus bargibanti

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Syngnathiformes
Family: Syngnathidae
Genus: Hippocampus
Species: Hippocampus bargibanti

Bargibant's pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus bargibanti) is the classic pygmy seahorse, a tiny, knobbly fish that perfectly mimics the polyps of the Muricella sea fan it lives on. It comes in a pink-with-red-bumps form and a yellow-with-orange-bumps form, matching its host.

Adults are only about 2 cm tall. They spend their whole lives on a single sea fan, often in pairs or small groups, feeding on tiny crustaceans. The species was discovered by accident when a sea fan was collected for a museum and the seahorses were found on it.

Bargibant's pygmy seahorse occurs in the western Pacific, including the Philippines, where it lives on Muricella sea fans on deeper reef slopes and walls.

Photo: Rachel Crane, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist