Tiger tail seahorse
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Syngnathiformes
Family: Syngnathidae
Genus: Hippocampus
Species:
H. comes
Binomial name
Hippocampus comes
Cantor, 1850

The tiger tail seahorse (Hippocampus comes) is a species of fish in the family Syngnathidae. The species was first described by Theodore Cantor in 1850.[3] It is found in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtidal aquatic beds and coral reefs. It is threatened by habitat loss.

The tiger tail sea horse lives in Western Central Pacific: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.[1] It lives from 0-1.5 years in captivity and in the wild, 1–5 years. It is harmless. Its climate in water is tropical; 15°N – 1°N and Its maximum size is 18.7 cm. Its snout is 2.2 in head length; it is used to suck up food. They eat small fish, coral, small shrimp, and plankton. The most common pattern is alternating yellow and black. The tail has stripes from the belly to the tip of the tail. These sea horses are normally found in pairs on coral reefs, sponge gardens, kelp, or floating Sargassum. This species is nocturnal.[4] The male carries the eggs in a brood pouch on their chest which holds from 1 – 2,000 eggs and the pregnancy takes from 1 to 4 weeks. It is also used for traditional Chinese medicine. Seahorse populations are thought to have been endangered in recent years by over fishing and habitat destruction. The seahorse is used in traditional Chinese medicine, and as many as 20 million seahorses may be caught each year and sold for this purpose. Import and export of seahorses has been controlled under CITES since May 15, 2004.[1] They don't have scales as fish do, they have a tough thin skin stretched out around bony rings on their bodies. This makes them an unlikely prey for most marine animals, as they are too bony to digest. They swim upright, rather than horizontally.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lim, A. (2015). "Hippocampus comes". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2015: e.T41008A54908262. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-2.RLTS.T41008A54908262.en.
  2. ↑ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  3. ↑ Scales, Helen (2009). Poseidon's Steed: The Story of Seahorses, From Myth to Reality. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 136. ISBN 978-1-101-13376-7. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  4. ↑ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2018). "Hippocampus comes" in FishBase. February 2018 version.
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