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Hippocampus whitei

(White´s Seahorse)

Overview

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Family : Pipefishes and seahorses ; In shallow, weedy inshore areas and Zostera seagrass beds ; also on sponges. Also under jetties on holdfasts of kelp, and on other man-made structures such as shark nets . Diurnal and site faithful[1]. Ovoviviparous (Ref. 205). The male carries the eggs in a brood pouch which is found under the tail[2].

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Danish:

Whites S, Whites søhest

Common Names in English:

Common Sea-Horse, New Holland seahorse, Sydney seahorse, White´s Seahorse, White's seahorse

Common Names in Mandarin Chinese:

怀氏海马, 懷氏海馬

Description

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Habitat

Ecology: Hippocampus whitei are found to depths of 25 m in shallow, weedy, inshore areas, in Zostera spp. seagrass beds , on sponges, and often under jetties on kelp holdfasts (Kuiter 1997). They are also found on manmade objects such as shark nets (A.C.J. Vincent, pers. obs.). Hippocampus whitei breed from October to April. Within this breeding season , they are site-faithful to a home range (averaging 8 m² for males, 12 m² for females: Vincent et al. in review) and are faithful to a single mate (Vincent and Sadler 1995).

This species may be particularly susceptible to decline. The limited information on habitat suggests they inhabit shallow sea-grass beds (Kuiter 1997) that are susceptible to human degradation, as well as making them susceptible to being caught as bycatch. All seahorse species have vital parental care, and many species studied to date have high site fidelity (Perante et al. 2002, Vincent et al. in review), highly structured social behaviour (Vincent and Sadler 1995), and relatively sparse distributions (Lourie et al. 1999). The importance of life history parameters in determining response to exploitation has been demonstrated for a number of species (Jennings et al. 1998).[3].

List of Habitats:

Taxonomy

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Synonyms

Hippocampus camelopardalis Bianconi • Hippocampus novaehollandae Steindachner • Hippocampus novaehollandiae Steindachner

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

First described: Bleeker, P. Zesde bijdrage tot de kennis der ichthyologische fauna van Amboina. Natuurkd. Tijdschr. Neder.-Indië 8:391-434., 1855.

Last scrutiny: Data last modified by FishBase 10-Sep-1999

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Hippocampus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 58 species and subspecies in this genus:

H. abdominalis (Eastern Potbelly Seahorse) · H. alatus (Winged Seahorse) · H. algiricus (West African Seahorse) · H. angustus (Western Australian Seahorse) · H. barbouri (Barbour´s Seahorse) · H. bargibanti (Bargibant´s Seahorse) · H. biocellatus (False-Eyed Seahorse) · H. borboniensis (R?union Seahorse) · H. breviceps (Short-Snouted Seahorse) · H. camelopardalis (Giraffe Seahorse) · H. capensis (Knysna Seahorse) · H. comes (Tiger-Tail Seahorse) · H. coronatus (Common Japanese Seahorse) · H. curvicuspis (New Caledonian Thorny Seahorse) · H. debelius (Softcoral Seahorse) · H. denise (Denise's Pygmy Seahorse) · H. erectus (Spotted Sea Horse) · H. fisheri (Fisher´s Seahorse) · H. fuscus (Chilka Seahorse) · H. gracilissimus (Graceful Pipehorse) · H. grandiceps (Big-Head Seahorse) · H. guttulatus (Long-Snouted Seahorse) · H. guttulatus microstephanus (Long-Snouted Seahorse) · H. hendriki (Eastern Spiny Seahorse) · H. hippocampus (Short Snouted Seahorse) · H. histrix (Longspine Seahorse) · H. hystrix (Thorny Seahorse) · H. ingens (Pacific Giant Seahorse) · H. japonicus (Japanese Seahorse) · H. jayakari (Jayakar´s Seahorse) · H. jugumus (Collared Seahorse) · H. kelloggi (Kellog´s Seahorse) · H. kuda (Common Seahorse) · H. lichtensteinii (Lichtenstein's Seahorse) · H. minotaur (Bullneck Seahorse) · H. mohnikei (Japanese Seahorse) · H. monckei (Japanese Seahorse) · H. monikei (Japanese Seahorse) · H. montebelloensis (Monte Bello Seahorse) · H. multispinus (Northern Spiny Seahorse) · H. obtusus (Offshore Seahorse) · H. planifrons (Three-Spotted Seahorse) · H. procerus (High-Crown Seahorse) · H. punctalatus (Silver Cusk Eel) · H. pusillus (Pygmy Thorny Seahorse) · H. queenslandicus (Queensland Seahorse) · H. guttulatus (Common Seahorse) · H. reidi (Longsnout Seahorse) · H. semispinosus (Half-Spined Seahorse) · H. sindonis (Dhiho´s Seahorse) · H. spinosissimus (Hedgehog Seahorse) · H. subelongatus (West Australian Seahorse) · H. trimaculatus (Three-Spotted Seahorse) · H. vulgaris (Spotted Flounder) · H. waleananus (Walea Pygmy Seahorse) · H. whitei (White´s Seahorse) · H. zebra (Zebra Seahorse) · H. zosterae (Little Seahorse)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 05, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Lourie, S.A., A.C.J. Vincent and H.J. Hall (1999). Seahorses: an identification guide to the world's species and their conservation. Project Seahorse, London. 214 p. [back]
  2. Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966). Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p. [back]
  3. Project Seahorse 2003. Hippocampus whitei. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 01 February 2012. [back]
Last Revised: 7/14/2012