Hippocampus hippocampus

Short-snouted Seahorse

Hippocampus hippocampus (Linnaeus, 1758) or Short-snouted seahorse (EN), Cavalo-marinho-comum (PT), Caballito de mar común (SP), Hippocampe à Museau Court (FR), Cavallucio marino camuso (IT), Αλογάκι της θάλασσας (GR), Kurzschnäuziges Seepferdchen (GE) or Kortnosad Sjöhäst (SE) has a short snout and can show a variety of body colours (e.g., brown, orange, purple or black), sometimes adorned with tiny white spots. 

It is distributed throughout the European coast until West Africa, and can be observed on the Mediterranean Sea, Azores, Madeira, and Canary Islands. It inhabits inshore waters or estuaries, preferring less complex and open habitats on soft bottoms and among sparsely distributed rocks or algae. This seahorse can be found up to 60m deep (or deeper during the winter).

Adults are sedentary, often attached to a holdfast by their prehensile tail. They are ambush predators and mainly eat amphipods, mysids, and decapods. The short-snouted seahorse breeds between April and October, but this range can be shorter in cooler climates. The males mate with only one female within the breeding season and then carry the embryos in their fully closed brood pouch. The pair greets each other daily and performs long courtship rituals to maintain the bond. During the courtship rituals they brighten their body colour, wrap the tail around each other, swim up and down on the water column, quiver side by side or twirl together on the holdfast.

H. hippocampus is considered one of the twelve most traded seahorse species, with dried specimens commonly traded as curiosities and live individuals sought after for aquariums. The traded seahorses are believed to come mainly from the West African populations. The short-snouted’s trade has decreased since the addition of all Hippocampus to Appendix II of CITES.