Thorny sea horse

Description:

Seahorse up to 15 cm long, thin. Pointed, high spines at the corner of the bony plates. Elongate snout, variable colour (yellow, green, red. Especially the female can be bright. Often bands can be seen on the snout. The name Hippocampus histrix has often been used to identify any spiny seahorse, actually belonging to a species complex. The true H. histrix can be distinguished due to the very long snout with bands, and to the higher spines.

Habitat:

Western Pacific. Found in sandy bottom with sea grass.

Notes:

When you approach them they typically give you their back: as in pic. 3, so you have to keep going around to take pics of the face :-)