Denise's Pygmy Seahorse

Hippocampus denise

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

Denise's pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus denise) is one of the smallest seahorses in the world, a smooth, orange to yellow pygmy that lives on sea fans. Unlike Bargibant's pygmy it lacks large bumps, and its body is slimmer.

Adults are usually under 2 cm long. They cling with their tails to the branches of gorgonians such as Annella and Muricella, matching their host's colour, and feed on tiny crustaceans. As in all seahorses, the male carries the eggs in a brood pouch.

Denise's pygmy seahorse is found in the western Pacific, including the Philippines, where it lives on sea fans on reef slopes and walls, usually below about 15 m.

Photo: Piotr Lukasik, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist