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Highcrown Seahorse
Hippocampus procerus Kuiter, 2001
A Highcrown Seahorse at a depth of 7 m, south wall inside the Broadwater, Gold Coast Seaway, Queensland, May 2005. Photo © I. Banks. View larger image.
The Highcrown Seahorse can be recognised by a combination of characters that include a high, backward-directed coronet with five moderate-sized, sharp spines on the apex. There are low spines on then 'neck' behind the head and usually one spine under the head between the eye and 'neck'.
It is yellowish ventrally and brownish with dark scribbles dorsally. The snout is dusky to yellowish with white flecks and spots.
The Highcrown Seahorse grows to 11 cm in length.
This species is endemic to Australia. It is known from southern Queensland, and one possibly erroneous record from the south-eastern Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
The Highcrown Seahorse was described in 2001 by OzFishNet member Rudie Kuiter. The holotype of the species, from Hervey Bay, Queensland is registered in the Australian Museum fish collection (AMS E.2914).
Related links
- Big Belly Seahorse fact sheet
- Common Seahorse fact sheet
- White's Seahorse fact sheet
- View the Seahorses list
Further reading
- Kuiter, R H. 2001. Revision of the Australian seahorses of the genus Hippocampus (Syngnathiformes: Syngnathidae) with descriptions of nine new species. Records of the Australian Museum. 53(3): 293-340.
