Hippocampus nalu, a new species of pygmy seahorse from South Africa, and the first record of a pygmy seahorse from the Indian Ocean (Teleostei, Syngnathidae)

Graham Short; Louw Claassens; Richard Smith; Maarten De Brauwer; Healy Hamilton; Michael Stat; David Harasti

doi:10.3897/zookeys.934.50924

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Hippocampus nalu, a new species of pygmy seahorse from South Africa, and the first record of a pygmy seahorse from the Indian Ocean (Teleostei, Syngnathidae)

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Hippocampus nalu, a new species of pygmy seahorse from South Africa, and the first record of a pygmy seahorse from the Indian Ocean (Teleostei, Syngnathidae)

Graham Short, Louw Claassens, Richard Smith, Maarten De Brauwer, Healy Hamilton, Michael Stat and David Harasti

ZooKeys, Vol.934, pp.141-156

19/05/2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.934.50924

PMID: 32508498

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Abstract

Africa

COI

cryptobenthic

ichthyology

marine fish

morphology

Sodwana Bay

taxonomy

A new species and the first confirmed record of a true pygmy seahorse from Africa, Hippocampus nalu sp. nov., is herein described on the basis of two specimens, 18.9–22 mm SL, collected from flat sandy coral reef at 14–17 meters depth from Sodwana Bay, South Africa. The new taxon shares morphological synapomorphies with the previously described central Indo-Pacific pygmy seahorses, H. colemani, H. japapigu, H. pontohi, and H. satomiae, and H. waleananus, including diminutive size, twelve trunk rings, prominent cleithral ring and supracleithrum, spines on the fifth and twelfth superior and lateral trunk ridges, respectively, and prominent wing-like protrusions present on the first and/or second superior trunk rings posterior to the head. Hippocampus nalu sp. nov. is primarily distinguished from its pygmy seahorse congeners by highly distinct spine morphology along the anterior segments of the superior trunk ridge. Comparative molecular analysis reveals that the new species demonstrates significant genetic divergence in the mitochondrial COI gene from the morphologically similar H. japapigu and H. pontohi (estimated uncorrected p-distances of 16.3% and 15.2%, respectively). Hippocampus nalu sp. nov. represents the eighth member of the pygmy seahorse clade to be described from the Indo-Pacific, the first confirmed record from the African continent and the Indian Ocean, and an extension of more than 8000 km beyond the previously known range of pygmy seahorses from the Central and Western Indo-Pacific.

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Title: Hippocampus nalu, a new species of pygmy seahorse from South Africa, and the first record of a pygmy seahorse from the Indian Ocean (Teleostei, Syngnathidae)
Creators: Graham Short - Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI)
Louw Claassens - University of British Columbia
Richard Smith - University of British Columbia
Maarten De Brauwer - University of Leeds
Healy Hamilton - University of British Columbia
Michael Stat - University of Newcastle
David Harasti - University of British Columbia
Publication Details: ZooKeys, Vol.934, pp.141-156
Publisher: Pensoft Publishers
Identifiers: 991013127410302368
Copyright: (c) Graham Short et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0).
Academic Unit: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

Hippocampus nalu, a new species of pygmy seahorse from South Africa, and the first record of a pygmy seahorse from the Indian Ocean (Teleostei, Syngnathidae)

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