Bargibant's pygmy seahorse
Hippocampus bargibanti
Sighting evidence at Hairball, Lembeh Strait
Photo: Julian Hsu · CC BY-NC
At 2.7 cm this is the best-known pygmy seahorse species and the first to be formally described, discovered when a collector noticed it on a sea fan in a New Caledonia aquarium. At Hairball it inhabits Muricella fan colonies between 15 and 20 m. Its pink and orange tubercles match the fan polyps so exactly that the species was not known to science before the aquarium discovery in 1969. Finding one requires a guide or extensive prior knowledge of which fan colonies are occupied.
Evidence at this site
No confirmed records on file at this site
Bargibant's pygmy seahorse is listed as a curated species here based on historical reports.