The table shows the Seahorses and Seadragons of southern Australasia which includes species from the coastline of Australia from Sydney to southern Western Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. 

The IFG has constructed a key and table to show our interpretation of the types of seahorse found in Southern Australasia.  In this classification you will find that the Pot-belly seahorses are all regarded as Hippocampus abdominalis and none as H. bleekeri.  Genetic studies have shown Hippocampus bleekeri to be the same as H. abdominalis.  In addition you will find a new type of seahorse, the Willyama seahorse (Hippocampus sp 1.), which we have recently discovered.  The exact status of this type is uncertain but due to its limited distribution and recent mass die offs with strandings it is of great conservation concern to the IFG.  The Willyama seahorse has its centre of distribution  at the southern end of Yorke Peninsula, South Australia.

A group of Short-snout seahorses Hippocampus breviceps collected in the Gulf St Vincent, South Australia, by Sir Joseph Verco in 1921.  Until after 1945, when scuba became popular, discoveries of fish were limited to trawling, accidental catches by fishers, and beach washed specimens.  However, the Inshore Fish Group relies heavily on divers for discoveries of new types of fish, images for the web site to provide identification, and surveys to establish species range and habitat.

 

Seahorses and Seadragons

• Pot-belly1827  

Hippocampus abdominalis

• Short-head 1870  

• Bull-neck 1882  

• White's 1855  

• Western Australian 1873

Hippocampus elongatus

• Willyama   

Still under construction

Seadragons

• Weedy 1839

• Leafy 1865