Hippocampus Reidi
Product Description
Hippocampus reidi, or the longsnout seahorse, is a species found along the Atlantic coast. They live in the tropical and subtropical waters off South America, including Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia.
These seahorses are stunners, with a really vibrant and colorful look. They've got a slender body, a pair of curved tails, and a long, pointed head with a distinctive snout. In terms of color and patterns, they're highly variable. They can be yellow, orange, red, brown, or black, and might have spots, blotches, or stripes all over them.
Longsnout seahorses usually hang out in coastal reef areas, coral reefs, and seagrass beds. They're bottom-dwellers, using those strong tails to anchor themselves to seaweed and rocks. They then use their straw-like mouths to suck up small invertebrates and plankton.
Like other seahorse species, they display sexual dimorphism – where the males and females look different. The males have a brood pouch where they incubate and nourish the eggs until the little ones are ready to hatch.
These seahorses are also facing a lot of trouble, including habitat loss, water pollution, overfishing, and illegal trading. Right now, Brazil and other countries where they're found have strict bans on catching wild longsnout seahorses. All seahorse imports and exports need certification and must come with permits approved under the CITES convention.
Seahorses aren't just important for wellness reasons – they're also sought-after for Chinese medicine and as popular aquarium fish. That's led to heavy fishing in the past, which has really shrunk wild populations. To maintain marine biodiversity and ecological balance, our company focuses on breeding various types of seahorses in captivity, to supply both the aquarium and traditional medicine markets. We hope that by offering artificially bred seahorses, we can ease the pressure on wild populations, giving them time to recover.