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View Full Version : Argentine seahorse-H.patagonicus

Luis A M
10/27/2005, 02:56 PM
The argentine,or patagonian seahorse was very popular in LFS 20 years ago.It is a hardy nice fish that adapts well to the tropical marine aquarium even if it comes from cold southern Atlantic waters. This is explained because it is adapted to live in shallow bays that can become warm under the summer sun.
Then the imported Brazilian H.reidi came.They were big,colorful and cheap.Local seahorse soon disappeared from the market.
But the recent inclusion of seahorse in the CITES had the paradoxical effect of bringing these fish again to LFS.These are a pair of 5cm high juveniles.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/528/44505H_patagonicus-1ok.jpg
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/528/44505H_patagonicus2web.jpg
This seahorse was mostly unknown out of Argentina.It was considered a southern form of H.erectus,which I always thought to be wrong as our fish has different shape and colour,and unlike erectus gives birth to many hundred small,pelagic fry.
New books like Kuiter and Lourie don t mention it ,as if there were not seahorses down here.
Recently Piacentino & Luzzatto described it as H.patagonicus sp.nov.(Rev.del MACN 6,2)
NanoLurker
10/27/2005, 03:48 PM
they are adorable! i've never seen them around here, are you currently breeding them?
Samala
10/27/2005, 04:36 PM
Very nice! They have such large dorsals. They resemble H. zosterae a bit with those tiny little snouts, and their size isnt that far off either. Never seen a reference to them before this.. and they dont seem to come up on the ID guides or even fishbase! Interesting find you've got there.

>Sarah
Seahorsewisprer
10/27/2005, 09:49 PM
They are really gorgeous!


Hmmmm, I might be heading down south in a bit...How would i sneak some home?
NanoLurker
10/28/2005, 07:38 AM
Originally posted by Seahorsewisprer
Hmmmm, I might be heading down south in a bit...How would i sneak some home?

:lol: i was thinking the same thing :)
equinecpa
10/28/2005, 07:39 AM
Please do tell us more about them! They look really sweet. Do you breed them? Export them?

Carolyn
Seahorsewisprer
10/28/2005, 10:43 AM
We gotta be careful. You've seen movies of what they do to drug smugglers?!
Samala
10/28/2005, 10:51 AM
I've been looking at all the export paperwork just for non-CITES listed biological samples and its a stinkin headache and financial burden! I'd hate to see how much they would charge in paperwork and permit fees to get animals that are actually CITES listed legally over country borders. Grr.. ;)

>Sarah
Seahorsewisprer
10/28/2005, 11:05 AM
Well, I was planning on a carry-on for some of the souveniors that are more fragile than others...

Plus, they probably don't go through our dive bags, seeings how stinky we can make em?

Do you think they have SH sniffing dogs?
Samala
10/28/2005, 12:29 PM
I dunno.. I had my dive bags and other items checked pretty thoroughly coming from Tanzania, New Zealand and the Bahamas.. they seem pretty stuck on keeping things within their country. ;) They also questioned me a lot on some of my vitamins and made a big deal about opening all the bottles and checking contents. What can I say, apparently I look like a terrorist/smuggler.. though I think its my last name that gets me into so much trouble. Lol. Customs officers.. grrr on them!

>Sarah
Luis A M
10/28/2005, 02:20 PM
Originally posted by equinecpa
Please do tell us more about them! They look really sweet. Do you breed them? Export them?

Carolyn

These fish are juvs,that´s why they look like zosterae.Their adult size is about like an erectus.They come in the black-brown-gray tones but some are yellow,white and orange,though not the red-orange of some Brazilian reidiis.
They can take cold water as well as tropical,don´t seem to care.
I bred them frequently many years ago.I think gestation time was 30 days.The fry never took bs and all died during the 5th night,very frustrating :(. I didn´t have rots or pods at that time,they might make it easier.
I sure expect to raise and breed these ponies.The fed well on adult bs and Hikari mysis which they took since the 1st day.
Regarding CITES,appII species can be exported/imported with the proper certificate which is given to captive bred individuals.
Seahorsewisprer
10/28/2005, 04:06 PM
Luis, CITIES won't apply if you start a breeding program! First Dibs?

Or, we could try sneaking them out in the dirty underwear sack. I know they won't look in there!
NanoLurker
10/28/2005, 05:03 PM
i'm thinking something more along the lines of the movie "What About Bob" ;)

me to customs agent, "what? it's living jewelry!"
Seahorsewisprer
10/28/2005, 06:03 PM
That's it! Thanks!
Luis A M
08/27/2006, 11:28 AM
Update showing grown up kids.These are young adults,12cm high (almost 5") http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/528/44505H_patagonicus_7.JPG
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/528/44505H_patagonicus_4.JPG :)
BruceW
08/27/2006, 01:21 PM
They look a lot like H. capensis. Particularly the head, snout and very long tails. I have never heard of this species before but I will do a search of my seahorse books when I get off work.

Bruce
ReefNutPA
08/27/2006, 02:14 PM
I agree Bruce, their heads/tails really do look similar to caps.

Tom
tomandkris
08/27/2006, 06:02 PM
Wow.. I likes dem.
murfman
08/28/2006, 05:00 AM
Que Bonitos!
BruceW
08/28/2006, 01:10 PM
I really like them and the fact that no one else in North America probably has them makes it even more appealing. They must be closely related to capensis as they have the same head shape and long tail plus the colors and the irredescent dots are exactly like caps. They even share the large dorsal with the dark strip with caps.

Dang now I have a new seahorse species to dream about owning. Thanks a lot Luis A M :-).