" Hairy " seahorse

Can somebody help with the identification of this "hairy" seahorse ?

Picture is taken a few days ago in Sabang/Philippines, it got a bit of both, estuary and thorny seahorse,

but then with a lot of "hairy" algea on the head ...

Size is around 6 to 7 cm, found on a sandy bodem at 17m dept

Thx, Patrick

Can somebody help with the identification of this "hairy" seahorse ?

 

 

Picture is taken a few days ago in Sabang/Philippines, it got a bit of both, estuary and thorny seahorse,

but then with a lot of "hairy" algea on the head ...

Size is around 6 to 7 cm, found on a sandy bodem at 17m dept

 

Thx, Patrick

Moluccan Seahorse (Hippocampus moluccensis)

My money is on Wing-Spined Seahorse, Hippocampus alatus.

Cheers,

Jim.

Maybe this can help, the same seahorse from the other side :

The reference I used, "Reef Fish Identification - Tropical Pacific" lists "knobby crown often with filaments" as the distinguishing characteristic for Hippocampus moluccensis which seems to match your photos pretty closely.

That second view matches very closely many of the images I could find for H.alatus both in books and on-line references.

Main reference used was Rudie Kuiter's "Seahorses and Their Relatives"(2009 edition), specifically pages 100-101.

Fishbase

Google Images

Did you happen to take an X-ray image of it? That might clinch it

Cheers,

Jim.

Still saving money for the X-ray camera and a lead diving suit.

They both look very similar on the pictures in the books,

only the area they live in is far away from Sabang in the Philippines.

Hippocampus alatus : north Australia & south Papua New Guinea

The Hippocampus moluccensis : Ambon, Sulawesi and Mollucan sea (... witch is a bit closer to the Philippines )

Still saving money for the X-ray camera and a lead diving suit.

 

They both look very similar on the pictures in the books,

only the area they live in is far away from Sabang in the Philippines.

 

Hippocampus alatus : north Australia & south Papua New Guinea

 

The Hippocampus moluccensis : Ambon, Sulawesi and Mollucan sea (... witch is a bit closer to the Philippines )

FWIW Kuiter states that the range of H.alatus includes the Philippines and one of the images in his book is of a female in the Philippines.

Cheers,

Jim.

Have sended an email to R. Kuiter and he confirms that it is indeed Hippocampus alatus

" The seahorse is Hippocampus alatus.

It typically has the small dark spots in the pale areas and was named for the bony protrusions

on the back. In your image these are covered with red-algae... "

He incluided a pdf file with images from the latest version of his seahorse book

( the one I have is the old edition from 2000, in wich the wing-spined seahorse still is named Hippocampus sp.3

and the area limited to Australia and Papua, hence the confusion )

Thanks everyone for helping.

GreetZzz...

Patrick