Ralph Foster, courtesy of the South Australian Museum.
Info
Foster & Gomon, 2010
Very special thanks for this unique photo of Hippocampus paradoxus to Ralph Foster and Thea Williams from the South Australian Museum.
"The Paradoxical Seahorse, Hippocampus paradoxus, is a recently described species from the Great Australian Bight (Foster and Gomon, 2010). Known only from a single specimen collected in 1995, this small species breaks the planning rules of seahorse anatomy. It is the only known seahorse without a dorsal fin, instead having a series of fleshy lobes down the back and tail. It also lacks the rigid external bony plates that characterise most seahorses. The numbers of plates ringing the body and tail of a seahorse are key taxonomic (identification) features but were very difficult to determine in the specimen because of the fleshy dermis. To visualise the remnants of the rings and other features hidden beneath the skin, South Australian Museum researchers turned to micro-CT scanning. The technique proved to be remarkably useful allowing detailed, non-destructive examination of not only the skeleton but some soft tissue features, as well, such as unlaid eggs in the abdomen. Some of the CT scan images used to scientifically describe Hippocampus paradoxus are presented here, along with CT scans of two other seahorse species, H. breviceps and H. denise, for comparison. - See more at: http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/research/biological-sciences/fish/1098#sthash.Lthecy39.dpuf"
Source: South Australien Museum
Classification: Biota > Animalia (Kingdom) > Chordata (Phylum) > Vertebrata (Subphylum) > Gnathostomata (Superclass) > Pisces (Superclass) > Actinopteri (Class) > Syngnathiformes (Order) > Syngnathidae (Family) > Hippocampinae (Subfamily) > Hippocampus (Genus) > Hippocampus paradoxus (Species)
Feeding intake.
The fish take a long time to eat at the beginning, before the food is taken up, a close inspection is carried out. After acclimatisation, the offered frozen food is eaten without problems. It should be noted that wild-caught fish behave differently than offspring when it comes to food intake. In the case of offspring, the size of the fish purchased also plays a role in the choice of food.
You can download the minimum requirements for keeping seahorses (in accordance with EC Regulation 338/97) from the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation as a PDF here: https://meerwasser-lexikon.de/downloads/BfN_Mindestanforderung_haltung_seepferdchen_hippocampus.pdf
The term "reef safe" is often used in marine aquaristics, especially when buying a new species people often ask if the new animal is "reef safe".
What exactly does reef safe mean?
To answer this question, you can ask target-oriented questions and inquire in forums, clubs, dealers and with aquarist friends:
- Are there already experiences and keeping reports that assure that the new animal can live in other suitably equipped aquariums without ever having caused problems?
- Is there any experience of invertebrates (crustaceans, hermits, mussels, snails) or corals being attacked by other inhabitants such as fish of the same or a different species?
- Is any information known or expected about a possible change in dietary habits, e.g., from a plant-based diet to a meat-based diet?
- Do the desired animals leave the reef structure "alone", do they constantly change it (boring starfish, digger gobies, parrotfish, triggerfish) and thus disturb or displace other co-inhabitants?
- do new animals tend to get diseases repeatedly and very quickly and can they be treated?
- Do known peaceful animals change their character in the course of their life and become aggressive?
- Can the death of a new animal possibly even lead to the death of the rest of the stock through poisoning (possible with some species of sea cucumbers)?
- Last but not least the keeper of the animals has to be included in the "reef safety", there are actively poisonous, passively poisonous animals, animals that have dangerous biting or stinging weapons, animals with extremely strong nettle poisons, these have to be (er)known and a plan of action should have been made in advance in case of an attack on the aquarist (e.g. telephone numbers of the poison control center, the treating doctor, the tropical institute etc.).
If all questions are evaluated positively in the sense of the animal(s) and the keeper, then one can assume a "reef safety".
Very special thanks for this unique photo of Hippocampus paradoxus to Ralph Foster and Thea Williams from the South Australian Museum.
"The Paradoxical Seahorse, Hippocampus paradoxus, is a recently described species from the Great Australian Bight (Foster and Gomon, 2010). Known only from a single specimen collected in 1995, this small species breaks the planning rules of seahorse anatomy. It is the only known seahorse without a dorsal fin, instead having a series of fleshy lobes down the back and tail. It also lacks the rigid external bony plates that characterise most seahorses. The numbers of plates ringing the body and tail of a seahorse are key taxonomic (identification) features but were very difficult to determine in the specimen because of the fleshy dermis. To visualise the remnants of the rings and other features hidden beneath the skin, South Australian Museum researchers turned to micro-CT scanning. The technique proved to be remarkably useful allowing detailed, non-destructive examination of not only the skeleton but some soft tissue features, as well, such as unlaid eggs in the abdomen. Some of the CT scan images used to scientifically describe Hippocampus paradoxus are presented here, along with CT scans of two other seahorse species, H. breviceps and H. denise, for comparison. - See more at: http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/research/biological-sciences/fish/1098#sthash.Lthecy39.dpuf"
Source: South Australien Museum
Classification: Biota > Animalia (Kingdom) > Chordata (Phylum) > Vertebrata (Subphylum) > Gnathostomata (Superclass) > Pisces (Superclass) > Actinopteri (Class) > Syngnathiformes (Order) > Syngnathidae (Family) > Hippocampinae (Subfamily) > Hippocampus (Genus) > Hippocampus paradoxus (Species)
Feeding intake.
The fish take a long time to eat at the beginning, before the food is taken up, a close inspection is carried out. After acclimatisation, the offered frozen food is eaten without problems. It should be noted that wild-caught fish behave differently than offspring when it comes to food intake. In the case of offspring, the size of the fish purchased also plays a role in the choice of food.
You can download the minimum requirements for keeping seahorses (in accordance with EC Regulation 338/97) from the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation as a PDF here: https://meerwasser-lexikon.de/downloads/BfN_Mindestanforderung_haltung_seepferdchen_hippocampus.pdf
The term "reef safe" is often used in marine aquaristics, especially when buying a new species people often ask if the new animal is "reef safe".
What exactly does reef safe mean?
To answer this question, you can ask target-oriented questions and inquire in forums, clubs, dealers and with aquarist friends:
- Are there already experiences and keeping reports that assure that the new animal can live in other suitably equipped aquariums without ever having caused problems?
- Is there any experience of invertebrates (crustaceans, hermits, mussels, snails) or corals being attacked by other inhabitants such as fish of the same or a different species?
- Is any information known or expected about a possible change in dietary habits, e.g., from a plant-based diet to a meat-based diet?
- Do the desired animals leave the reef structure "alone", do they constantly change it (boring starfish, digger gobies, parrotfish, triggerfish) and thus disturb or displace other co-inhabitants?
- do new animals tend to get diseases repeatedly and very quickly and can they be treated?
- Do known peaceful animals change their character in the course of their life and become aggressive?
- Can the death of a new animal possibly even lead to the death of the rest of the stock through poisoning (possible with some species of sea cucumbers)?
- Last but not least the keeper of the animals has to be included in the "reef safety", there are actively poisonous, passively poisonous animals, animals that have dangerous biting or stinging weapons, animals with extremely strong nettle poisons, these have to be (er)known and a plan of action should have been made in advance in case of an attack on the aquarist (e.g. telephone numbers of the poison control center, the treating doctor, the tropical institute etc.).
If all questions are evaluated positively in the sense of the animal(s) and the keeper, then one can assume a "reef safety".
