This tiny creature is the first of its kind discovered near the continent of Africa
Until now, only seven pygmy seahorse species had been identified worldwide. One of those species was discovered in Japan, and the remaining six were found in the Coral Triangle in the eastern Pacific. This newly discovered South African species lives 5,000 miles away and is the first pygmy seahorse discovered in the Indian Ocean, per a University of Leeds statement.
The tiny creatures have a honey-brown color and a reddish tail which allows them to blend in with the surrounding algae and sand. According to a PBS video from 2015, most pygmy seahorses survive by camouflaging against the corals or algae where they live. Their exceptional camouflage abilities, combined with their tiny size, make finding pygmy seahorses “like finding a needle in a haystack”
Hippocampus nalu grow to a maximum size of 2 centimeters—so small that two of them would fit, tail to snout, across the length of a United States nickel coin. Researchers even collected one juvenile that measured just a centimeter long, according to Smith’s statement.
These newly classified seahorses have spiky, pointed spines on their backs, whereas the other known species of pygmy seahorse have flat-tipped spines, according to National Geographic. They were also discovered in a stormy area of the Sodwana Bay prone to large swells. This was surprising, considering that most other species of pygmy seahorses have been found in relatively sheltered coral reefs.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/newly-discovered-pygmy-seahorse-species-size-fingernail-180975001/