Longsnout Seahorse

The longsnout seahorse (Hippocampus reidi) is a member of the family Syngnathidae, the pipefishes and seahorses, within the order Syngnathiformes. It ranges through the western Atlantic from North Carolina and Bermuda south through the Caribbean to Brazil, where it is sometimes called the Brazilian seahorse. One of the larger and more slender seahorse species, it is known for extreme color variability, with individuals appearing bright yellow, orange, red, or mottled brown. Like all seahorses, males carry and give birth to developing young in a specialized brood pouch. Hippocampus reidi is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN due to habitat loss and collection pressure for the aquarium and curio trades, and international trade is regulated under CITES Appendix II.

Look for a slim body, a notably long, thin snout, and a tall, spiky coronet atop the head - key traits separating it from shorter-snouted relatives.

• Body: elongated, laterally compressed, bony rings instead of scales
• Snout: long and narrow, roughly equal to head length
• Color: highly variable - yellow, orange, red, brown, or mottled, sometimes with white spots
• Tail: long, slender, fully prehensile for gripping holdfasts
• Size: typically 12-17 cm, among the larger Atlantic seahorses It is most easily confused with the lined seahorse, but the longsnout has a proportionally longer snout and a taller, more pointed coronet.

Longsnout seahorses inhabit shallow, warm coastal waters of the western Atlantic, from Bermuda and North Carolina through the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and south to Brazil. They favor calm, sheltered habitats such as seagrass meadows, mangrove prop roots, sponge and gorgonian gardens, and reef edges, typically at depths of 2-20 m. Water temperatures are generally warm-temperate to tropical, and individuals usually stay near a single home range once settled. They rely on structurally complex holdfasts - soft corals, algae, or roots - to anchor with their prehensile tails and avoid being swept away by currents.

This species is a slow-moving, sedentary ambush predator that grips a holdfast with its tail and waits for small crustaceans to drift within range, sucking prey through its tubular snout with a rapid pivot feeding strike. Longsnout seahorses are generally solitary or found in loosely paired arrangements, often forming monogamous pair bonds that persist through a breeding season. During courtship, pairs perform synchronized color changes and dancing displays before the female transfers eggs into the male's brood pouch, where he fertilizes and incubates them for roughly two to three weeks before releasing fully formed young. As predators of zooplankton and small crustaceans, they play a minor role in controlling invertebrate populations within reef and seagrass communities.