New seahorse species identified by Kerala researchers

Marine researchers claimed to have solved a 150-year-old taxonomic confusion regarding the identity of the thorny seahorse, Hippocampus histrix.

Scientific studies have identified a new species, Hippocampus amandavincentae, which was previously misidentified as Hippocampus histrix, they said.

Earlier, researchers had described Hippocampus jayakari, a lesser-known one, which was also previously wrongly identified as Hippocampus histrix, they said.

The new species, which was named after noted marine biologist Amanda Vincent, was collected from the fish bycatch at the Tuticorin fisheries harbour by Shalu Kannan, the lead author of the paper.

The species was described in a recently released research paper, according to the team of researchers from Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (Kufos).

This is also the fifth known seahorse species from the Kerala coast, they said.

The study published in the taxonomy journal Zootaxa demonstrated that the thorny seahorse (Hippocampus histrix), historically believed to be widespread from the Red Sea and East Africa across the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific, was three distinct species, they claimed.

“Many museum specimens and online biodiversity records of spiny seahorses in the Indian Ocean have been assigned to Hippocampus histrix for decades,“ said Rajeev Raghavan, Assistant Professor at Kufos and a senior author of the study.

The new species was photographed alive during a survey held as part of the Ecomarine project at around 15-metre depth on the rocky reefs off Anchuthengu, said Kufos Vice-Chancellor A. Biju Kumar.