Form and Function
Hippocampus bargibanti is a very
small organism with the largest recorded height at 2.4 cm
(Lourie et al. 2004). As stated in the
Habitat and Geography section, the Pygmy seahorse
camouflages itself with the coral it lives in. It is either a
purple with pink/red tubercles, which is found on the plant
Muricella plectana, or it is yellow and had orange tubercles,
which is found on Muricella paraplectana (Lourie and Foster
2004). You can learn more about these two host species in the
Interaction with Other Species page.
H. bargibanti is not known to move around much and is
rarely been seen moving from one coral to the next. It is
unknown whether the organism can live on one species of coral
and camouflage, and them move to the other species and change
color to camouflage with that coral(Lourie and Foster 2004).
Not much was found on how H. bargibanti feeds
specifically, but it is known that most seahorses suck up prey
through their snout when prey comes near(Foster and Vincent
2004). Pygmy seahorses have a smaller snout, but it is assumed
they do the same. Seahorses eat mostly small crustaceans and
mollusks, but may eat plants unintentionally(Do et al. 1998).
Once again, not much is stated about what preys on this
organism, but for all seahorses in general, they are preyed on
by many fish, urchins, and one case of a loggerhead turtle
(Kuiter 2000, Burke et al. 1993).
To learn about how these organisms reproduce, click
here.
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