Editing Seahorse (section)

==Pygmy seahorses==
[[File:HSatomiaeJohnSear.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Hippocampus satomiae]]'' (Satomi's pygmy seahorse) attached to coral]]
{{Main|Hippocampinae}}
Pygmy seahorses are those members of the genus that are less than {{convert|15|mm|in|frac=16|abbr=on}} tall and {{convert|17|mm|in|frac=16|abbr=on}} wide. Previously the term was applied exclusively to the species ''[[Hippocampus bargibanti|H.&nbsp;bargibanti]]'' but since 1997, discoveries have made this usage obsolete. The species ''[[Hippocampus minotaur|H.&nbsp;minotaur]]'', ''[[Hippocampus denise|H.&nbsp;denise]]'', ''[[Hippocampus colemani|H.&nbsp;colemani]]'', ''[[Hippocampus pontohi|H.&nbsp;pontohi]]'', ''[[Hippocampus severnsi|H.&nbsp;severnsi]]'', ''[[Hippocampus satomiae|H.&nbsp;satomiae]]'', ''[[Hippocampus waleananus|H.&nbsp;waleananus]]'', ''[[Hippocampus nalu|H.&nbsp;nalu]]'', ''[[Hippocampus japapigu|H.&nbsp;japapigu]]'' have been described. Other species that are believed to be [[biological classification|unclassified]] have also been reported in books, dive magazines and on the Internet. They can be distinguished from other species of seahorse by their 12 trunk rings, low number of tail rings (26–29), the location in which young are brooded in the trunk region of males and their extremely small size.<ref name="Lourie and Kuiter">{{cite journal|last=Lourie|first=Sara|author2=Rudie Kuiter |year=2008|title=Three new pygmy seahorse species from Indonesia (Teleostei: Syngnathidae: ''Hippocampus'')|journal=Zootaxa|volume=1963|pages=54–68|issn=1175-5334|url=http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2008/f/zt01963p068.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204132352/http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2008/f/zt01963p068.pdf |archive-date=2010-12-04 |url-status=live|access-date=9 June 2009|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.1963.1.4}}</ref> Molecular analysis (of [[ribosomal RNA]]) of 32 ''Hippocampus'' species found that ''H.&nbsp;bargibanti'' belongs in a separate [[clade]] from other members of the genus and therefore that the species diverged from the other species in the ancient past.<ref name=Teske-2004/>

Most pygmy seahorses are well camouflaged and live in close association with other organisms including colonial [[hydrozoan]]s (''[[Lytocarpus]]'' and ''[[Antennellopsis]]''), [[coralline algae]] (''[[Halimeda]]''), and [[sea fan]]s (''[[Muricella]]'', ''[[Annella]]'', and ''[[Acanthogorgia]]''). This combined with their small size accounts for why most species have only been noticed and classified since 2001.<ref name="Lourie and Kuiter" />