I thought people might be interested in seeing this new pipehorse-like syngnathid from Wakatobi, Indonesia. This one was found yesterday by the dive guide Yann living on some Halimeda algae at 5m depth. We decided to call it a Pygmy pipedragon since it appears to be a pipehorse and it has an amazing swimming style very similar to that of the large southern Australian Seadragons. It reached about 3cm in length but is very slender. The red filaments on the back and head are very similar to those seen on the Coleman and Pontohi Pygmy seahorses so probably help in camouflaging the tiny fish among algae and hydroids. The long, erect spine on the back has been noted in the few invividuals seen on local reefs. I gather this species was seen in Lembeh earlier in the year but great to have extended the range of this amazing little critter.
I have more images in the Wakatobi section of my website www.OceanRealmImages.com/gallery
Hope you enjoy it as much as we have!
Richard
