When is a Pontohi a Colmani

A few years a go when i first visited Lembeh I was told that this silly looking thing that was no bigger than 15mm in length was a Pygmy seahorse and it was called Colmani. I have re visited Lembeh and what I thought was a Colmani is now being called a Pontohi. Are these seahorses the same or are they different. I have done a couple of web searches and there seems to be quite a bit of confussion out there.

Here are 3 that i photographed last week but I dont know what to call them. Any help would be appreciated.

#1

#2

#3

Stew

Hi Stew,

going from Rudie Kuiter's most recent print of his excellent guide to Syngnathids I'll take an educated guess.

#3 Definitely Hippocampus pontohi

#2 Also H.pontohi

#1 Possibly H.severnsi

Cheers,

Jim.

Thanks for the speedy reply Jim. Loved your Flickr galleries.

Stew

Thanks for the speedy reply Jim. Loved your Flickr galleries.

 

Stew

No worries Stew, though I hope someone more knowledgeable than me can confirm my thoughts.

Glad you enjoyed my images, we have some amazing diving in SE Australia.

Cheers,

Jim.

Interesting to see some variety, I was told this was a colmani ...

It's an old photo, so not the best.

Hey Stew

I've just spent a year in the Straits (lucky me ). I agree with Jim: 2 and 3 are pontohis. Not sure about 1. Do you remember which dive site it was on?

Hey Stew

 

I've just spent a year in the Straits (lucky me ). I agree with Jim: 2 and 3 are pontohis. Not sure about 1. Do you remember which dive site it was on?

HI Tim, you are one lucky so and so having the fortune to stay there for a year. I dont keep a log book anymore, gave that up a long time ago but from memory it was at nudi retreat and at the end of the dive in the shallows 8 mtrs ish.

Hope this helps

Stew

#1 is Hippocampus severnsi. Nice photo - I wish I had found one.

2 & 3 look like Hippocampus pontohi.

I found the id in the following reference:

ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition)

Copyright © 2008 · Magnolia Press ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition)

Zootaxa 1963: 54–68 (2008)

www.mapress.com/zootaxa/

Three new pygmy seahorse species from Indonesia

(Teleostei: Syngnathidae: Hippocampus)

SARA A. LOURIE1 & RUDIE H. KUITER2

HI Tim, you are one lucky so and so having the fortune to stay there for a year. I dont keep a log book anymore, gave that up a long time ago but from memory it was at nudi retreat and at the end of the dive in the shallows 8 mtrs ish.

 

Hope this helps

 

Stew

The fortune?? Hehe, I wish! I was working there - KBR dive manager.

Interesting to see some variety, I was told this was a colmani ...

 

 

It's an old photo, so not the best.

I agree this specimen is either H.colemani or in that species-complex, where was your image taken Jeff? H.colemani was described from specimens found off Lord Howe Island

which is off the east coast of Australia. There have been very similar but smaller specimens found in the waters of PNG and Japan. My guide states that they are as yet to be

determined. Hopefully Dave Harasti will spot this thread as he should be able to contribute an informed appraisal of these ID's.

Cheers,

Jim.

The photo was also taken "near" to Lembeh, it was on one of the islands out to the North.

No official dive site name as it was unmapped, we just called it Nelson's Point after the dive guide who found them on an exploration dive.

There were a few on the site, and they were even more uncooperative than the Pontohi we saw on other sites.

So what distinguishes the H. Pontohi from the H. Colmani? The ones we saw in Wakatobi were described as H Colmani and looked very similar to Jeff's Colmani pic, but had red filaments on the back, like pics #2 and 3.

Here's a couple of articles from Divephotoguide.com about Pygmies

Progression of ID'ing New Species of Pygmy Seahorses

Discovering Coleman's Pygmy Seahorse

Cheers,

Jim.