📸 PhotoPhoto: Christian Gloor from Wakatobi Dive Resort, Indonesia · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Bargibant's pygmy seahorse
Hippocampus bargibanti (Bargibant's pygmy seahorse · Bargibant's pygmy seahorse)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its maximum size of 2.4 cm is slightly smaller than the diameter of a 500-won coin (2.65 cm) (Comparison).
- 💡 According to FishBase, its camouflage is so complete that the first specimens were discovered only after the host sea fan was moved into an aquarium.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
Bargibant's pygmy seahorse is a tiny seahorse measuring just 2.4 cm in body length. It is known only from gorgonian sea fans of the genus Muricella.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
It has a short snout and knobby tubercles over its body, making it look identical in shape and color to the polyps of the sea fan it inhabits. Its trunk resembles the stem of the sea fan.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Up to 28 pairs can live on a single sea fan. Males brood the eggs in a brood pouch beneath the tail, and breeding appears to take place on red-polyped corals deeper than 20 m.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2024) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/10060/250508253
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 3LZKJ
- • iucnredlist.org — 250508253
- • wikidata.org — Q244011
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Hippocampus bargibanti (21800451905).jpg
- • fishbase.se — Hippocampus-bargibanti.html
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Kelly · Public Domain Mark 1.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Hippocampus)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.