Longsnout Seahorse

Longsnout Seahores, or Hippocampus reidi, have long, think snouts and slender bodies.  They range in color from black, to yellow, red, orange, and brown.  Longsnout Seahorses have a very long, curved tail and typically no skin appendages, however, their bony rings are visible under the skin.  They are some of the largest seahorses growing to be between two and four inches.

Longsnout seahorses are bony fishes; however, the skeleton consists of bony rings that support the organism's outer skin instead of a typical skeleton.  Longsnout seahorses are more specifically members of the Syngnathidae family, which include all pipefishes, leafy and weedy sea dragons, and seahorses.  Syngnathids are all characterized by trumpet-like snouts and small mouths.  Seahorses are separated from pipefish by their vertical orientation, head position, and elongated tail that is used for griping onto substrate.  Seahorses differ from sea dragons in that sea dragons have different means of movement and cannot use their tails as an anchor.

A Longsnout Seahorse anchored to some seagrass

These seahorses have a large range stretching from North Carolina to Florida and south through the  Caribbean to Brazil.  Longsnout seahorses inhabit inshore environments or offshore reefs and are typically found attached to mangroves, seagrasses, or gorgonians.  Longsnout seahorses feed on small shrimp, amphipods, and small crustaceans.  They are ambush predators, often waiting for prey to come to its anchored location.  When feeding, seahorses use their long snouts almost like a straw and suck the prey into their mouths where they swallow it whole.

The longsnout seahorse mates for life.  It is also unique in that males are the primary caretakers of the eggs and give birth to the offspring.  When a pair of longsnout seahorses mate, the female inserts roughly 1,000 to 1,500 eggs in a pouch on the male.  The male then fertilizes the eggs inside his pouch and about 14 days later gives birth to the young seahorses.  Even though large amounts of offspring are produced, only a few will make it to adulthood and reproduce.  Sadly, longsnout seahorse populations are in danger due to the removal of so many for aquariums, their practice in folk medicine, and simply in bycatch. Currently, the longsnout seahorse is considered by the American Fisheries Society as threatened.

References: "Florida Museum of Natural History Ichthyology Department: Longsnout Seahorse." Florida Museum of Natural History. Web. 13 Jan. 2011. <http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/LSSeahorse/lsseahorse.html>.; "Longsnout Seahorse, Coral Reefs, Fishes, Hippocampus Reidi." Monterey Bay Aquarium, California. Web. 13 Jan. 2011. <http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/AnimalDetails.aspx?id=780548>.; Humann, Paul, and Ned DeLoach. Reef Fish Identification: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas. Jacksonville, FL: New World Publications, 2002. 372-73. Print.