Thorny Yet Beautiful

Also known as the thorny seahorse, the spiny seahorse is a medium sized marine fish in the seahorse family that can grow between 15-17cm long. They are most well-known for the thorns that cover their entire body from their prehensile tail all the way up to the top of their foreheads. They eat a carnivorous diet consisting mainly of small crustaceans and zooplankton that they suck up into their tiny mouths, and come in a variety of color from grey to bright yellow and green to red.

They camouflage very well with their environment and are best found on seagrass beds, but can also be seen wrapped around sponges, weedy algae, or soft coral amongst the reef. This species is relatively rare but widely distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region. Unfortunately, they have a declining population and are listed as vulnerable, therefore making them hard to find. If scuba diving with the spiny seahorse is on your bucket list check out the locations on the map below for dive sites where they have been sighted.