Pygmy pipehorse geographic distribution

Hi folks. Just returned from a trip to Cabilao Island in the Philippines and our guides, who were amazing, found a pair of what I'm fairly sure are pygmy pipehorses (Kyonemichthys rumengani). As far as I've been able to discern, the species has previously only been known from Sulawesi. Does anyone know if they have been found anywhere else in the coral triangle? Fishbase.org does not have much info on it and the paper describing the species, by Martin Goman, only lists Sulawesi.

Thanks!

Ethan

By the way, an image of the pygmy pipehorse from Cabilao can be found at: Oceanstockimages

Edited by Mod: embedded image

As it was only discovered in October 2007 in Lembeh Straight, there isn't much info as to its range. That's definitely Kyonemichthys rumengani. As it's so shallow, people hadn't noticed it at diving depths. There were oodles of them this past July. I saw them at four different sites in Lembeh. You've just added to the range. Cool.

Cheers,

Marli

Much appreciated Marli.

As it was only discovered in October 2007 in Lembeh Straight, there isn't much info as to its range. That's definitely Kyonemichthys rumengani. As it's so shallow, people hadn't noticed it at diving depths. There were oodles of them this past July. I saw them at four different sites in Lembeh. You've just added to the range. Cool.

 

Cheers,

Marli

we recently came across pygmy pipehorses in Anilao (Janao Bay) and i belive this is the same species you're discussing.

I've seen one in Okinawa, Japan, well outside the coral triangle, on a rock in a sandy area, ~ 20 m deep.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pacificklaus/3831737831/

i think it is the same one i saw in the Togian Islands in Sulawesi, it was on a shallow, muddy dive, not much else to see but a populated colony of those.