Great seahorse

How it lives

Fishes of Australia describes it on reefs and soft bottoms, often with gorgonian corals and sea whips, and FishBase calls it a deep-water species associated with corals. It is recorded from 1 m to about 150 m, and the deepest record is 152 m. The male carries the eggs in a pouch under the tail and then releases the young. A wild lifespan of about 2 to 4 years is reported. The head looks like a crown, the body is pale and smooth, and the tail is about 57% of the body length.

Where it goes

Seahorses move very little. Genetic work on animals from the Red Sea, the Andaman Sea and the South China Sea found three populations that are clearly different with very little mixing, which suggests little movement between regions. How far an individual moves along the coast is not described in the sources checked.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List (2017). The listing followed an estimated decline of at least 30% between 2006 and 2016. It is also in CITES Appendix II. It is found across the Indo-West Pacific, from the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and East Africa to Southeast Asia, China, Japan and eastern Australia (central New South Wales to Botany Bay). Threats named are use in traditional Chinese medicine, the aquarium trade and bycatch in fisheries. In Hong Kong, the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation says it has been sighted before, but none were seen in its 2011 to 2012 survey of 31 sites, which found six seahorses of one other species.