New species of seahorse found... after sitting in a museum for more than a decade

Daily Mail Online: New species of seahorse found... after sitting in a museum for more than a decade

A new species of seahorse has been discovered - more than ten years after the tiny specimen was put on display in a museum.

The creature was caught in 1995 in waters off south-western Australia and taken to a local museum.

But it went unnoticed until 2006 when a staff member realised it was unusual.

Ralph Foster examined it closely and after performing a CT scan concluded it was a type of seahorse previously unknown to science.

The creature, which is just a few millimetres long, is unlike any other variety because it doesn't have a dorsal fin.

It has been named Hippocampus paradoxus. The name paradoxus was chosen because of its meaning - strange and contrary to all expectation.
Now the hunt is on to find other examples.

Mr Foster, the collections manager at the South Australian Museum in Adelaide, said: 'We know very little about this weird little beast

'The species is known from just one specimen that had been in the museum since 1995.
'I found it on the shelves in 2006 and realised then that it was very unusual and started research that included CT scanning the specimen in order to get 3D images of its skeleton.
'This method hadn't previously been used by seahorse researchers who traditionally rely upon standard X-rays to reveal the taxonomically important features of the skeleton and it proved to be very versatile.
'The research clearly differentiated the specimen from all known species of seahorse and it was formally described and named as a new species in a recent scientific paper I co-authored.
'It seems that this one has never previously - or subsequently - been found.
'There is no certainty as to why, but the region is remote and little surveyed so this may be the main reason.

'Also, the depth it was found at - the so called "mesophotic zone" - puts it out of reach of scuba divers who, these days, are frequently the ones alerting scientists to new species.

'My guess is that it is probably common in its preferred habitat but that it has very specific requirements that make it patchily distributed - unless you look in exactly the right habitat you are unlikely to find it.'

There are currently about 230,000 known species of sea creature, but scientists estimate that is less than 30 per cent of the number that actually exist.
Seahorse expert Chris Brown, of the Weymouth Sea Life Park, said: 'Unfortunately, because the seas are so susceptible to the impact of we humans many species will probably go extinct even before they are discovered.

'Seahorses are particularly sensitive to pollution and habitat loss, and maybe the new one identified has already disappeared from the wild.'