The strange horses of the sea

 mysterious hippocampi and evolutionary mysteries

  Of all the fish and beings in the sea, no group is as beautiful and interesting in my opinion as the members of the Syngnathidae group, especially seahorses, this family has very varied shapes, colors and sizes, in fact, we could say that this family has the most beauty of all marine animals, But, there are 2 almost unknown species that generate even more mystery in them.

Let's look at these cases.

The impossible seahorse 

   The paradoxical seahorse, called Hippocampus paradoxus, is a small seahorse of the genus Hippocampus, This name was given because this seahorse is very different from all other members of the genus.

The brood pouch is theorized to be attached to the ventral side of the seahorse, near the top of the tail and connected to the seahorse's chest, this theory is based on its similarity to H. minotaur, but has not been confirmed because a male specimen has not been collected, Its only specimen is a female that has a vertical height of 6.5 cm, here is the photograph:

It was discovered in 1995 southwest of Esperance, Western Australia, on the western periphery of the Great Australian Bight, and the sample was collected near 34°12′S 121°32′E.

This remained unnoticed until 2006 when a member of staff realized that it was unusual, and after x-ray analysis, its nature was confirmed, which shows a very complex morphology and different from most of the known hippocampus and which can be seen to be much more strange.

Today it is in the South Australian Museum in Adelaide, but has never been seen again due to what is considered a loss, although the depth at which it was found, The so-called "mesophytic zone" puts it out of reach of divers, which is why it has not been possible to study it, but with what is seen, It is far from a very different evolutionary path adapted to greater depths than previously thought.

There is not much information about it 

The "hippocampus" of Titicaca 

   There has been much speculation about the existence of freshwater seahorses, at first it was believed that these could exist from variants of species from the Indo-Pacific, which adapted to live in the Mekong and in fact, there are some that are found in small estuaries of this river in Indochina, but the possibility of a freshwater seahorse was not proven, however here is something even more interesting.

The Titicaca "hippocampus" is a possible species of freshwater seahorse, which lives or lived in some unexplored part of Lake Titicaca, in Peru, whose specimen was collected in 1943 by Arthur Posnansky, and recorded in his work Tihuanacu, cradle of the American man, and today it is kept in the Berlin Museum.

It is curious that this specimen is mounted, but at the same time it is not known if it exists or existed, since since the first sample it was never seen again, Although it is always emphasized that it was captured in the lake, but needless to say that it has not been studied, here is the photo:

Likewise, it has been seen that this species was known by the natives of the area, since in the Aymara language it was known as Challwatayka, or mother of the fish, a deity of the sacred lake, and even the pre-Hispanic civilizations of the area respected and revered the lake fauna, even making slight mentions of this animal in the Tihuanaku and Titicaca area, and even representing it in their art..

There is also a sculpture discovered, shown in the photo, but if not, here is a more detailed image:

Let's hope this species is discovered one day or it is proven if it existed, it is a shame that such interesting species are lost and there is little or no evidence of their existence.

If it existed, as with the paradoxical seahorse, it would be a rethinking of evolutionary theories regarding the hippocampi, Although a friend suggested that perhaps it is a case of evolutionary convergence, but in the end, how did it get there? Does it exist? Etc. are and will remain mysteries until they are proven.

[[[[[Reading links]]]]]]

https://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/fishkeeping-answers/is-there-really-such-a-thing-as-a-freshwater-seahorse/

https://vivinasalvettihoy.blogspot.com/2016/04/antropo-notis-2016-caballitos-de-mar-en.html?m=1

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1357950/Hippocampus-paradoxus-New-species-seahorse-found.html