Pacific Seahorse in Galápagos: Facts and Where to See It

As in all seahorses, the female places her eggs in a brood pouch on the male, where he fertilises them and seals them in. Research suggests a Pacific seahorse male can brood up to 2,000 eggs at once and may do so several times in a breeding season. Males can be told apart by a prominent keel; mature females often have a dark patch below the anal fin.

• Ambush hunter. It blends into its surroundings, waits for prey to pass, then sucks it in whole; seahorses have no teeth.
• Night owl. Pacific seahorses are nocturnal.
• The name. Hippocampus comes from the Greek for "horse" and "sea monster".

Pacific seahorses live along the coast from Baja California to Chile, and around the Galápagos Islands, the only known population around an oceanic island. They use many shallow habitats down to 60 metres: mangroves, seagrass meadows, rocky reefs, coral reefs and sponges.

Guide sighting records list 2 sites, both noting seahorses clinging to mangrove roots. Los Túneles on Isabela, a snorkelling site, is rated Possible; Black Turtle Cove on Santa Cruz, visited by panga, is rated Rare. Look slowly along roots and rock edges; a seahorse holding still is easy to miss.

The guide records list seahorses at both sites in every month. In the next twelve months, 317 departures stop at a site where they are seen.

It is listed as Vulnerable. Over 20 million seahorses of all kinds are sold each year for traditional Chinese medicine, aquariums and as dried curios, and the Pacific seahorse is favoured because of its size. Mexico and Peru are the largest exporters. Seahorses are easily over-harvested because they have few young, mate for life, develop slowly and do not spread far. Habitat damage and bycatch in fishing nets add to the pressure. Since 2004 all seahorses have been listed in CITES Appendix II, which controls international trade.

1. Grabbing a root to steady yourself. That is where the seahorses hold on.
2. Kicking up sediment. Move slowly so you can still see.
3. Getting too close. Park rules ask for at least 2 metres of distance.