Bargibant's Pygmy Seahorse

Photo: Julian Hsu · CC BY-NC

Bargibant's pygmy seahorses cling to Muricella-type gorgonian fans at Hidden Garden in both the pink-and-purple and orange-and-yellow colour morphs, each perfectly matching the knobby polyp texture of their specific host coral. Local operators maintain a catalogue of known individuals on specific fans, allowing them to show guests multiple seahorse encounters in a single dive. The site's calm, protected conditions mean these delicate animals are found in consistently the same locations year after year.