What to know about Pygmy Seahorse in Raja Ampat

Raja Ampat is always rated as one of the best diving locations in the world. Located in the center of the coral triangle, the colors are unlike anywhere else. A collage of pink reds turquoise paints the landscape in vibrancy and beauty unmatched. Reminiscent of a living breathing candy land backdrop. On top of that backdrop add one of the highest biodiversity locations of marine life in the world. From the wobbegong (carpet shark), the walking shark, Oceanic Mantas, endless species of fish, hard coral, soft coral every dive is visually stunning.

Types of Seahorses

It is also an incredible place for Macro photography. Raja is truly the land of the Pygmy seahorse. Currently, there are eight named pygmy seahorses found on earth. In Raja, you can find at least four of those plus variations. One of the best places in the world to see and discover pygmy seahorses.

Hippocampus Bargibanti

The largest of them is less than 3 cm Hippocampus Bargibanti which live only on Gorgonian sea fans. Hippocampus Bargibanti was given its name by, you guessed it, the first westerner to discover it Georges Bargibant in 1969. It is the largest and most prolific of all pygmy seahorses. Living their whole life on one single sea fan the camouflage is stunning. It does take a trained eye to find them. However, once you know how to spot them and where it becomes much easier with practice. In Raja, you can spot one on almost every dive where there are Gorgonian sea fans. The Bargibanti are whitish with pink striations and red-purple polyps found on red Gorgonian. However, there is also a rare orange variety that lives on the yellow Gorgonian.

Hippocampus Denise

Another Pygmy seahorse you can also find relatively easily is the Denise (Hippocampus Denise). The Denise is around 2cm. Its color is pale flesh tone with orange/brown polyps. Slightly smaller than the Bargibanti and just as camouflaged. They also spend life on a Gorgonian sea fan. With a thin body and long neck and puppy eyes, the colors can vary slightly depending on the particular Gorgonian they live. There is also a Denise variant that lives in Raja Ampat and is nicknamed the Santa Claus Pygmy. It is more rare and somewhat harder to find than the common Denise. These beauties have a bright red color with white polyps. They live on the red gorgonian and is thus thought this Denise changes its color and texture to match the red gorgonian.  

Life of Seahorses

Pygmy seahorses are born from the brood of the male, yes the male seahorse actually give “birth” to the babies. The babies will tend to float freely in the water column for two to three weeks and settle on a sea fan that they will then call their home. As the babies grow the color of their body adapts to the color and texture of the particular sea fan. It is thought that it takes around 5 days for the seahorses to match their new home gorgonian. These two species tend to live on one Gorgonia their whole life!

How to get nice pictures of Seahorses

If you are a photographer the pygmy seahorses are a beautiful and challenging subject. They dislike light and strobes and especially constant light, video, or focus lights. The first ten or twenty times I tried to photograph a pygmy seahorse I found it difficult as they move constantly and always turn their head right when you are about to take a picture. They use their tail to hold themselves to the fans and tend to float from branch to branch. Avoiding any direct light. The technique I eventually found was not to use a focus light, tricky but ultimately will help to calm the seahorse and a calmer experience for them. You can also use a dim light from the back or side obviously making sure not to get light into the camera lens. If it’s a night dive it can be more trying as you need some sort of light but again not a front-facing light very low powered and always from the side or back. Good etiquette is to try a few shots and then leave the beauties alone. With patience skill and timing, you can get beautiful pictures of the wildly colored pygmy seahorses on their home fan which makes a stunning backdrop. In my opinion, the Pygmy seahorse is one of the most beautifully camouflaged creatures on the planet and there is no better place to see so many as in Raja Ampat. Some pictures above of Pygmy seahorse from Raja Ampat.