Seahorses A Life-Size Guide to Every Species

About this book

Please note that the version published in Europe by Ivy Press is now out of print, so we are offering the version published in the US by The University of Chicago Press.

Seahorses are extraordinary creatures. They swim upright and spend days in dancing courtship. They are small, shy and have heads shaped like miniature ponies. And the male carries the female's eggs in his pouch and 'births' the young. Found worldwide, they are sensitive to environmental disruption and are an obvious flagship group for conservation. Seahorses unveils every species, including the seadragons and pipefish that share the Syngnathidae family. Each of the 47 entries incorporates a photograph and description, so you can admire their beauty as you learn about their ecological importance.

Contents

INTRODUCING SEAHORSES

          WHAT ARE SEAHORSES?
                 Horses of the Sea
                 The family Syngnathidae
                 Myths and Legends
 
          MORPHOLOGY
                 Adaptations of head
                 Bony plates
                 Prehensile tail
                 Fins
                 Pouch
                 Internal organs
                 Camouflage
 
          LIFE HISTORY & BEHAVIOUR
                 Life-span
                 Holdfasts
                 Home ranges
                 Feeding
                 Predators
         
          COURTSHIP & REPRODUCTION
                 Pair bonds & Greetings
                 Courtship & Mating
                 Eggs, Pregnancy & Birth
                 Seahorse Offspring
         
          DISTRIBUTION
                 Habitats
                 Map of distribution
                 Dispersal
                 Molecular evidence
 
 
          EVOLUTION
                 Fossil evidence
                 Genetics and phylogeny
                 Major clades within Hippocampus
                 Morphological changes
         
          TRADE
                 Traditional Medicine
                 Aquaria
                 Curios
                 Sources
 
          CONSERVATION
                 Seahorses as flagships
                 Population declines
                 Destructive fishing
                 Livelihoods and conservation
                 Aquaculture
                 IUCN Red List
                 CITES and national legislation
                 Project Seahorse
                 iSeahorse
                 How you can help
 
THE SPECIES
          SEAHORSES
          Introduction to the Species
                 Pygmy seahorses
         
                          H. bargibanti
                          H. colemani
                          H. denise
                          H. pontohi
                           H. satomiae
                          H. waleananus
                 Temperate Australasian species
                          H. abdominalis
                          H. breviceps
                 Spiny, striped-snout clade
                          H. angustus
                          H. barbouri
                          H. comes
                          H. histrix
                          H. jayakari
                          H. procerus
                          H. subelongatus
                          H. whitei
                 Three-spot seahorses
                          H. camelopardalis
                          H. planifrons
                          H. trimaculatus
                 Japanese miniatures
                          H. coronatus
                 H. mohnikei
                          H. sindonis
         
                 Semi-spiny H. kuda relatives
                          H. kelloggi
                          H. spinosissimus
                 Hippocampus kuda clade
                          H. algiricus
                          H. borboniensis
                          H. capensis
                          H. fisheri
                          H. fuscus
                          H. ingens
                          H. kuda
                 H. reidi
                 Basal kuda-oid species
                          H. guttulatus
         
                 Hippocampus erectus clade
                          H. erectus
                          H. hippocampus
                          H. patagonicus
                
Species of uncertain placement
                          H. debelius
                          H. jugumus
                          H. minotaur
                          H. montebelloensis
                          H. paradoxus
                          H. pusillus
                          H. tyro
                          H. zebra
                          H. zosterae
 
A SELECTION OF SEAHORSE RELATIVES
          GASTROPHORI: TRUNK-BROODING PIPEFISH
                 Nerophis ophidion
                 Doryrhamphus excisus [or D. dactyliophorus]
 
          UROPHORI: TAIL-BROODING PIPEFISH
                 Halicampus macrorhynchus
                 Trachyrhamphus longirostris
                 Syngnathus acus
                 Corythoichthys intestinalis
 
          SEADRAGONS & PIPEHORSES
                 Haliichthys taeniophorus
         
                 Phycodurus eques
                 Phyllopteryx taeniolatus
                 Solegnathus spinosissimus
                 Syngnathoides biaculeatus
 
          PYGMY PIPEHORSES
                 Acentronura tentaculata
                 Idiotropiscus lumnitzeri
                 Kymenoichthys rumengani

REFERENCES & FURTHER READING
Table of meristic counts
INDEX
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Customer Reviews

Biography

Sara Lourie (Vermont, USA) worked on the award-winning BBC film Secret Lives of Seahorses, and has been a research associate on Project Seahorse for the last eight years. She co-authored the Global Identification Guide to Seahorses and has identified and described multiple new pygmy seahorse species.