Syngnathidae

Lined seahorse

Hippocampus erectus

A pipette snout sipping tiny prey

• Brown
• Orange
• Yellow
• Tropical
• Globally widespread
• Marine fish
• Other
• Medium
• Tropical fish

Patterned with an intricate array of fine white lines tracing along its arched neck, the lined seahorse is an elegant, deep-bodied syngnathid native to the coastal shallows of the western Atlantic Ocean. Its armor-plated torso displays an impressive coronet with sharp, backward-pointing ridges, colored in variable shades of ash-grey, olive, chocolate-brown, orange, or lemon-yellow adorned with minute white specks and delicate parallel lines along the neck. Its muscular prehensile tail lacks a caudal fin, serving as a specialized anchor on seagrass stems, gorgonian corals, and sponge branches. Extending from Nova Scotia and Cape Cod through the Chesapeake Bay and Gulf of Mexico south to Venezuela, it navigates coastal estuaries, salt marshes, and offshore Sargassum rafts down to seventy-three meters depth. A patient ambush carnivore, it blends seamlessly into eelgrass meadows, snapping its tubular snout forward in milliseconds to vacuum up tiny mysids, amphipods, and larval fishes. Monogamous pairs reinforce bonds with daily greeting dances. Maximum recorded length attains seventeen centimetres.

Sources: Florida Museum — Lined Seahorse, Hippocampus erectus