Shorthead Seahorse, Hippocampus breviceps Peters 1869

Other Names: Knobby Seahorse, Short Snouted Seahorse, Short-head Seahorse, Short-headed Seahorse, Shortsnout Seahorse, Short-snouted Seahorse

Summary:

A small, well-camouflaged seahorse with a short snout, a distinctly tall coronet, and fleshy tendrils on the head and body. Individuals are often seen amongst patches of Sargassum algae in Port Phillip, Victoria.

Video of a male Shorthead Seahorse giving birth

Cite this page as:

Bray, D.J. 2021, Hippocampus breviceps in Fishes of Australia, accessed 19 Apr 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/species/1535

Shorthead Seahorse, Hippocampus breviceps Peters 1869

More Info

Distribution	Endemic to temperate southern Australian waters from Port Welshpool, Victoria, eastern Tasmania, and west to at least Venus Bay, South Australia. The species may also occur in the eastern part of the Great Australian Bight, South Australia. Usually inhabits shallow seagrass beds and macro-algae (Cystophora and Sargassum spp.) in bays, estuaries and on sheltered coastal reefs. Individuals occasionally occur on deeper sponge gardens. The species is most common in Port Phillip where it aggregates in algal weed patches near sandy areas.
Features	Dorsal fin rays 19-22; Anal fin rays 4; Pectoral fin rays 14-15; trunk rings 11; tail rings 38-42; subdorsal rings 3-5. Body small, slender and elongate, rather fleshy, often with fleshy tendrils on head and over back, appendages longer in males; trunk deep; snout moderately short, longest in juveniles, moderately shallow; strong constriction between head and trunk; body covered with thick, fleshy skin. Spines absent; fleshy tubercles few or reduced, best-developed along dorsal-fin base and over superior tail ridge; subdorsal spines 3-4/0,0,1,1 or 3-4/0,0,1,0. Coronet distinctly raised, tall, with a fleshy covering; apex rounded with up to 5 fleshy filaments, one usually at centre. Lateral line distinct with large pores on rings just above lateral ridge on trunk, continuing onto tail to about 20^th tail ring; each pore usually with several papillae.
Size	Height to 100 mm.
Colour	In life, overall a mottled drab greyish to bright yellowish-orange with mix of numerous small black spots and black-ringed white ocelli over much of the trunk and the anterior part of the tail; ventral surface of tail with pale bars; dorsal fin with 2 darkish longitudinal bands. In preservative - mainly cream to pale brown with dark spots on head and ocelli in the form of tiny dark circles mixed with dark spots on head and trunk.
Feeding	The Shorthead Seahorse preys mostly on small crustaceans such as mysids, harpacticoid copepods, and gammarid and caprellid amphipods.
Biology	The sexes are separate, and the female uses an ovipositor to transfer her eggs into an elaborate enclosed pouch under the abdomen of the male. The male provides physical protection for the developing embryos, osmoregulates and aerates the embryos, and may provide some nourishment until the offspring are born. Breeding occurs during the summer months and individuals do not form socially monogamous pairs. Males may brood 50-100 eggs at the same time and the young are born after an incubation period of about 25 days. Males studied in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, remained in relatively small areas and appeared to give birth at night. Unlike some other seahorse species, adults live in mixed-sex groups and unlike a number of other seahorse and pipefish species, do not undertake daily social rituals. Females produce 50 to 100 eggs per brood; egg diameter 1.6 mm. The pelagic larvae are morphologically similar to adults at birth; they cling to each other or floating weed at the surface. In Port Phillip Bay during the summer months near the full moon, young are seen in large numbers clinging to floating seagrass and alage on outgoing tides. Juveniles settle out at about 25 mm.
Fisheries	The species is reared commercially for the Australian and international aquarium trade.
Conservation	Listed as a genus (Hippocampus) on Appendix II of CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). IUCN Red List: Least Concern EPBC Act 1999: Marine Listed 1. All syngnathids are listed as Protected Aquatic Biota in Victoria. 2. The Tasmanian Living Marine Resources Management Act 1995 prohibits the take of all syngnathids in Tasmania (by non-permit holders, since Sept. 1994). 3. All syngnathids are subject to the export controls of the Commonwealth Wildlife Protection (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1982 from 1 January 1998.
Remarks	Lourie (2016), Lourie et al. (2016) and Pollom (2016) regarded Hippocampus tuberculatus as a junior synonym of H. breviceps.
Similar Species	Similar to the Knobby Seahorse, *Hippocampus tuberculatus, a species endemic to Western Australia. The Shorthead Seahorse may also be confused with juvenile Bigbelly Seahorses, Hippocampus abdominalis, which have 12-13 trunk rings (vs 11 trunk rings in H. breviceps*).
Etymology	The species name breviceps is from the Latin brevis (= short) and -ceps from the Latin caput (= head) in reference to the short head of this species.
Species Citation	Hippocampus breviceps, Peters, 1870. Mber. K. preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berl. 1870: 710. Type locality: Adelaide, South Australia.
Author	Bray, D.J. 2021
Resources	Atlas of Living Australia Australian Faunal Directory Catalog of Fishes

Shorthead Seahorse, Hippocampus breviceps Peters 1869

References

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