Species Hippocampus tuberculatus Castelnau, 1875
Knobby Seahorse
- Hippocampus tuberculatus Castelnau, F.L. de 1875. Researches on the fishes of Australia. Intercolonial Exhibition Essays. 2. pp. 1–52 in, Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876 : Official Record. Melbourne. [48].
Type data:
Holotype MNHP A.4539, Swan River, WA.
Miscellaneous Literature Names
- Hippocampus breviceps Peters, 1869 [H. tuberculatus was considered as a synonym of H. breviceps. Kuiter (2001) argued that western records of H. breviceps should be called H. tuberculatus]. —
McCulloch, A.R. 1929. A check-list of the fishes recorded from Australia. Part I. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 5: 1–144 [95] (regarded H. tuberculatus as a junior synonym of H. breviceps)
Introduction
Lourie et al. (2016) regarded the Hippocampus tuberculatus from Western Australia as a junior synonym of the eastern H. breviceps based on similarity of meristic features. Kuiter (2001), however, separated the two species, primarily based on the coronet spines and body tubercles. Lourie et al. (2016) did not address these characters and suggested further work was needed to determine if the two are distinct species. We see little reason to treat the species as the same species, given that the arguments of Lourie et al. (2016) appear tentative and they did not address all the characters used by Kuiter (2001).
Distribution
States
Western Australia
Extra Distribution Information
King George Sound (ca. 118°E), to Onslow (21°38'S) WA; subtropical.
Australian Endemic.
IMCRA
Northwest Shelf Province (27), Central Western Shelf Transition (28), Central Western Shelf Province (29), Southwest Shelf Transition (30), Southwest Shelf Province (31)
Ecological Descriptors
Inshore, sargassum, sponges.
Extra Ecological Information
0-20m
General References
Dawson, C.E. 1994. Family Syngnathidae. pp. 440-475 figs 391-426 in Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. Adelaide : State Printer 992 pp. 810 figs. (as H. breviceps in part)
Hutchins, J.B. 2001. Checklist of the fishes of Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 63: 9-50 [27]
Kuiter, R.H. 2001. Revision of the Australian Seahorses of the genus Hippocampus (Syngnathiformes: Syngnathidae) with descriptions of nine new species. Records of the Australian Museum 53: 293-340 [313]
Lourie, S.A., Pollom, R.A. & Foster, S.J. 2016. A global revision of the Seahorses Hippocampus Rafinesque 1810 (Actinopterygii: Syngnathiformes): Taxonomy and biogeography with recommendations for further research. Zootaxa 4146(1): 1–66 [18]
Lourie, S.A., Vincent, A.C.J. & Hall, H.J. 1999. Seahorses. An identification guide to the world's species and their conservation. Project Seahorse. x 214 pp. [81] (as H. breviceps, in part)
McCulloch, A.R. 1929. A check-list of the fishes recorded from Australia. Part I. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 5: 1–144 [95] (as Hippocampus breviceps, in part; regarded H. tuberculatus as a junior synonym of H. breviceps)
Munro, I.S.R. 1961. Handbook of Australian fishes. Nos 1–42. Australian Fisheries Newsletter 15–17, 19, 20: 1-172 [published as separates 1956–1961] [92] (638, as Hippocampus breviceps, in part)
Paxton, J.R., Gates, J.E., Hoese, D.F. & Bray, D.J. 2006. Syngnathidae. pp. 810-846 in Hoese, D.F., Bray, D.J., Paxton, J.R. & Allen, G.R. Fishes. In, Beesley, P.L. & Wells, A. (eds) Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Vol. 35. Volume 35 Australia : ABRS & CSIRO Publishing Parts 1-3, 2178 pp. [51]
Paxton, J.R., Hoese, D.F., Allen, G.R. & Hanley, J.E. (eds) 1989. Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Pisces: Petromyzontidae to Carangidae. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service Vol. 7 665 pp. [421] (as H. breviceps in part)
Whitley, G.P. 1964. A survey of Australian Ichthyology. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 89(1): 11-127 [38] (539,as Farlapiscis breviceps, in part)
Common Name References
Kuiter, R.H. 2000. Seahorses, Pipefishes and Their Relatives. Chorleywood, UK : TMC Publishing 240 pp. [17] (Knobby Seahorse)
Seafood Services Australia 2008. Australian Fish Names Standard. http://www.fishnames.com.au/. (Knobby Seahorse)
History of changes
Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
27-Jul-2017 | SYNGNATHIFORMES | 30-Aug-2016 | MODIFIED | Dr Doug Hoese Dr Matthew Lockett |
25-Jun-2015 | SYNGNATHIFORMES | 05-Aug-2014 | MODIFIED | Dr Dianne Bray (NMV) Dr Doug Hoese (AM) Dr Matthew Lockett (AM) |
27-Jul-2010 | MODIFIED |