Spiny Seahorse

The spiny seahorse is a small fish that can reach a maximum length of 15–17 cm. The body is slender, elongated and completely covered with thorns. These are sharp with dark tips, and uniformly sized on the prehensile tail. The trunk has long thorns which continue until the coronet, which has 4–5. The head is also provided with numerous spines especially on the forehead, the base of the cheeks, the nose and above the eyes. The snout is very long and tapered. Body coloration is highly variable to match surroundings and goes from grey to cream, and from bright yellow, to green or red and even brownish. It can be plain or with different pattern on the side or/and on the backside. The snout is generally striped with one or more thin white lines.

The spiny seahorse is relatively rare but widespread throughout the Indo-Pacific. In Australia it has been reported from the south of Ashmore Reef, Timor Sea, the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, and in Port Stephens, New South Wales. It is also found at Bali, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and Japan. The species favours relatively deep waters (10–95 m) and is usually found below 15 m depths. This species is found on a variety of substrates including sponges, weedy rocky reefs, soft corals but mainly on seagrass beds. (,)