Yellow Pygmy Sea Horses from Malapascua, The Philippines

[Marriard]

Pretty sure this is the yellow version of the normal purple Hippocampus bargabanti (love confirmation that this is so)

This pair of Sea Horses were found on Gato Island in The Philippines. There are two large seafans at about 80ft on the site - on the left has the standard purple fan with the Purple Pygmy's - on the right is a big yellow fan with these guys. I suspect they can change color to match which fan they are on.

Once you move the curious urchins around the fans, you can spend most of the dive looking for the little guys - pausing only to move the urchins again (they are aggressive here and will wander back and feel over you with their spines - can be a very disturbing feeling)

Enjoy,
M

 

[JRO]

Great stuff!!! How do you spot something like that?

 

[SueMermaid]

Oh, wow, are they gorgeous.

 

[ShakaZulu]

Great stuff!!! How do you spot something like that?

I know, I'd never see that, go to go slow I guess.

 

[calypsonick]

Tooooo awesome!! Tell me when you need a photo gear caddy and I am there in a flash. WILL WORK FOR PIX !!!!

 

[Marriard]

Great stuff!!! How do you spot something like that?

Slowly....

Actually it is just a matter of time, lights and depending on your eyesight maybe a magnify glass. And it helps to know that they are there to be found.

All the dive ops in the area know that there is a good population of Pygmy Sea Horses on these two large fans (purple and yellow). The fans are big enough that you can easily have a person on each side of each fan.

The best way to search for these is to ideally have one person have a strong light and they shine it through the fan and both people look at the same area (the light shines through the fan and makes it just as easy to see the Sea Horses on either side). Work from the outside edge of the fan in with a big, slow circle pattern - experience has shown that they tend to hang closer to the edge than the middle of the fan (or perhaps they are just easier to see on the edges). Repeat until you find them. Even with experience it can take several sweeps before you spot one.

You are looking for movement (they are suprisingly active) or for 'thicker' branches of the coral. Unlike other critters you can't look for the eyes - they are too small and too well camouflaged to see.

When you do find one, it is important to ensure you can find it again, especially for photos. First don't take your eyes off it until you have at least one other diver looking directly at it. I also normally count coral branches, or place a small shell or something similarly non-damaging nearby if it is deep in the fan. Nothing more frustrating than finding one then losing it.

There is also the 'a**hole' method of finding them - but I am not going to disclose this one as it is too distruptive and possibly damaging to the coral for my liking.

M

 

[SeaYoda]

Cool pics and thanks for the lesson - nothing like those here, but if I ever go somewhere that they are I'll sure use your advice.

 

[ssra30]

beautiful, could you please share what camera you used for the pictures and ideally the exif data as well.
I could never get the pgymy seahorse to cooprate and face the right way like yours

 

[dancingtortuga]

Awesome!! Very impressed & jealous.

 

[Jetwrench]

Both thumbs are up here! Finding them sounds like a feat, much less getting shots like that. Thanks for the lesson. Excellent shots! Very impressive.