Seahorse science round up - April 2010
My review of seahorse ecology, biogeography and conservation is published in the journal Progress in Physical Geography. In it, I provide an update on the advances in seahorse research around the world including their unusual mating system, their confusing taxonomy and the ever-present threats to their wild populations.
Paper: Scales 2010. Advances in the ecology, biogeography and conservation of seahorses (genus Hippocampus). Progress in Physical Geography Online First.
Transatlantic seahorse drifter - Nov 2009
A Caribbean species of seahorse has been found thousands of miles from its usual home, on the other side of the Atlantic in the Azores. Chances are it drifted there on a floating raft of vegetation – perhaps a palm tree that blew down in a storm. This is something that researchers suspect goes on from time to time and it helps to explain how seahorses have migrated into virtually all corners of the world despite their limited swimming skills.
Paper: Woodall et al. 2009. First occurrence of lined seahorse Hippocampus erectus in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean. Journal of Fish Biology 6, 1505-1512
$320,000 seahorse brooch goes on sale – Sept 2009
Russian jewellers Fabergé, famous for their exquisite eggs, have unveiled their first collection in 90 years, including a jewel-encrusted seahorse brooch in a design inspired by the Russian fairy tale Sadko the Bard. The sea-themed items, ranging in price from $200,000 to £6 million, are available exclusively on the Fabergé website and at a single store in Geneva.
Size really does matter - July 2009
Female seahorses can keep their stiletto heels on, because it turns out males choose to mate with the largest females they can find. Choosy males picking out large partners is such a strong selective pressure for big-bellied seahorses (Hippocampus abdominalis) that females have evolved to be 15-20% bigger than the opposite sex.
Paper: Mattle & Wilson, 2009. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 63, 1403-1410. Download pdf for free.
Fossilized baby seahorses discovered - May 2009
Miniscule fossil seahorses found in 13-million-year-old rocks in Slovenia are the oldest to date. Jure Žalohar of Slovenia’s University of Ljubljana stumbled on them in a stream while hunting for fossil insects. Among the fossils are juvenile seahorses just 5mm long. The newly discovered extinct species have been named Hippocampus sarmaticus and Hippocampus slovenicus.
See amazing photographs of these minute beasties at National Geographic News
Paper: Žalohar et al, 2009. Annales de Paléontologie 95, 71-96.
New seahorses - February 2009
By the end of 2008, the number of known seahorse species was boosted by 5, with the discovery & naming in peer reviewed journals of a handful of tiny ‘Pygmy’ seahorses: the soft coral seahorse from the Red Sea, and 4 from Indonesian coral reefs, Pontoh’s Seahorse, Satomi’s Seahorse, the Walea Seahorse and Severn’s Seahorse.
All of them are less than an inch tall (2.5cm) making them among the smallest vertebrates in the world.
See photos of them all in my story for National Geographic News
Papers: Lourie & Kuiter, 2009. Zootaxa 1963, 54-68. Gommon & Kuiter, 2009. Aqua 15, 37-44.
