Pygmy Seahorse

Photo: Julian Hsu · CC BY-NC

Pygmy seahorses are found on specific gorgonian sea fans throughout Chole Bay Gardens, their surface texture and colouration — pink with red tubercles, or yellow with orange tubercles — matching their host fan so precisely that the species went undiscovered until a New Caledonian taxonomist found one already preserved with its host coral in a museum collection. Each individual commits entirely to one gorgonian and rarely if ever moves to another, which means identifying the specific fan where an individual lives allows reliable repeated observation over the course of a week-long visit. Males brood eggs in a pouch on their trunk, and Chole Bay's population shows breeding activity between October and February when water temperatures peak and food availability is highest.