No photo available
Spotted seahorse
Hippocampus kuda
Valid name (FishBase; confirmed in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes and WoRMS, October 2026).
- English
- Spotted seahorse
- Scientific
- Hippocampus kuda
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Reef fish
- Maximum size
- Up to about 30 cm (total length)
- Depth and habitat
- Coral reefs and reef-associated habitats, recorded from 0 to 68 m (usually 0 to 8 m); also enters brackish water
- IUCN status
- VU · VulnerableVulnerable (VU), assessed 2012CITES Appendix II
Description
A seahorse, often yellowish to dark brown with fine spots, reaching about 30 cm. It lives in seagrass and algae, often with drifting sargassum, and males carry the eggs in a brood pouch until they give birth.
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Hippocampus-kuda.html
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Hippocampus_kuda_(Yellow_estuary_seahorse).jpg
Dhivehi name source: No Dhivehi name found in MRS 1997 (available chapters), FishBase (country: Maldives) or Dhivehi Wikipedia.