The long-snouted seahorse
Also called the spiny seahorse, Hippocampus guttulatus comes from the East Atlantic ocean and the Mediterranean sea.
It usually measures 12 cm, although it can exceed 20. Its colour varies between green and yellow, via brown. Its name comes from the fact that its snout s quite long and it often has little white spots.
The long-snouted seahorse is a carnivore. It feeds on small crustaceans, larvae, fish eggs and other planktonic organisms.
It belongs to the Syngnathidae family, which includes sea horses, but also little dragonfish. This family has the particularity of being ovoviviparity (that is that the eggs hatch in the stomach) and presents a unique characteristic in the animal world: it is the male that incubates the eggs in his ventral incubating pouch.
A specimen can be seen in the Museum in the “Ocean” display in the “Aquitaine coast” exhibition on the first floor.