BIOTIC

BIOTIC Species Information for Hippocampus hippocampus
All Taxonomy Biology Distribution Reproduction

Researched by	Marisa Sabatini & Susie Ballerstedt	Data supplied by	MarLIN
Refereed by	Neil Garrick-Maidment
Distribution and Habitat
Distribution in Britain & Ireland	Distributed along the south coast of England, with substantial populations around the Channel Islands and Ireland (Garrick-Maidment & Jones, 2004).
Global distribution	Reported from the Netherlands, Belgium, the east Atlantic coast of Europe, Algeria, Italy, Malta and Greece.
Biogeographic range	Not researched	Depth range	Sublittoral to 77 m
Migratory	Non-migratory / Resident
Distribution Additional Information	Seahorses are often found in water less than one metre deep. Most species of seahorse live at depths between 1-15 metres and as deep as 77 m when they move out into deeper waters over winter (Garrick-Maidment, 1998) but the depth varies throughout its range according to habitat (N. Garrick-Maidment, pers. comm.). In the Channel Islands, they are found in much deeper water because here they have a wide tidal range and deep gullies (N. Garrick-Maidment, pers. comm.). On the whole, Hippocampus hippocampus is found below 5 m whereas %Hippocampus guttulatus% is found in shallower depths (N. Garrick-Maidment, pers. comm.). They occupy only certain parts of seemingly suitable habitats, for example sticking to the edge of seagrass beds leaving large areas unoccupied. These microhabitats have not been investigated but is has been suggested that seahorses find more food in areas of good water exchange (Vincent, 1996). Habitat / substratum preferences may be seasonal and related to seasonal migration (N. Garrick-Maidment, pers. comm.). Adults may disperse during short range migrations but most movement to new areas happens when adults are cast adrift by storms or carried away while grasping floating debris (Vincent, 1999). They can cope with strong tidal strength for varying periods of time (N. Garrick-Maidment, pers. comm.).

Substratum preferences	Algae Seagrass Bedrock Mud	Physiographic preferences	Offshore seabed Strait / sound Estuary
Biological zone	Upper Eulittoral Mid Eulittoral Lower Eulittoral Sublittoral Fringe	Wave exposure	Moderately Exposed Sheltered Very Sheltered Extremely Sheltered Ultra Sheltered
Tidal stream strength/Water flow	Weak (<1 kn) Very Weak (negligible)	Salinity	Variable (18-40 psu)
Habitat Preferences Additional Information
Distribution References	Hayward et al., 1996, Froese & Pauly (ed.), 2004, Whitehead et al., 1986, Wheeler, 1969, Vincent, 1996, Garrick-Maidment & Jones, 2004, FishBase, 2000,