New Giant Seahorses Discovered; Under-explored Islands Home to Mythological Colossal Seahorses
Happy April Fool’s Day, Everyone!
Marine biologist Dr. Laura Saury, a member of the University of British Columbia-based Seahorse Project marine conservation team, has identified the world’s largest known species of seahorse. Topping out at around 7 feet in length, the Colossal Seahorses are straight out of greek mythology.
“They’re absolutely stunning,” said Dr. Laura Saury “And they’ve been under our nose the entire time.” Adults of the new seahorse species known as Hippocampus vernumiocus, grow over 2 meters in length. “We’ve heard about them for years, but assumed it was just myths and exaggerations. Some seahorses grow to over 30 centemeters, and flutemouths [a distant, snake like relative to the seahorse] get up to 2 meters, so it was easy for us to dismiss as a mixture of confusion and fairy tale.”
The Colossal Seahorse stands on the shoulders of giants before it thought to be the creation of human imagination. Both the Giant and Colossal Squid were believe to be animals of legend, until bodies drifted ashore, proving their existance. Now the giant seahorses of greek mythology can be added to the growing list of unexpected discoveries. “It really is a testament to the diversity of life found in the ocean” explained Saury. “We were amazed to find a tiny species of seahorse just over 1cm in length in 2008, and now we have another amazing discovery; a seahorse taller than a man.”
It’s thought these reclusive giants stayed hidden for so long due to their native range. Found only around the poorly explored Andaman Islands off the southern tip of India, many of the native people inhabiting the islands are hostile to outsiders. Indeed, it’s likely that the relatively isolated islands is key to their survival, says Saury. “We would have probably fished them all long ago had there been wider knowledge of their existence.” Saury offers up the suggestion that there may have been giant species spread out globally at one time, but were likely hunted to extinction. Fossil records of ocean dwelling animals are extremely difficult to find, leaving little clues to what seahorse ancestors might have been like. A small number seahorse fossils have surfaced in recent years in places in dried up ancient seabeds. In 2009, the oldest seahorse fossil was found in Slovenia. But most fossils of aquatic animals end up lost, destroyed before they can be preserved, leaving us so we may never know how far their range once was.
Saury said credible rumors first surfaced after a spring surfing trip in April of 1998 was chartered to explore the island by adventure loving photographer John Callahan and his crew. Several photographs taken from aboard their ship showed what looked like the shape of a large seahorse in shallow water, and several eye witnesses corroborated the story. Still, it wasn’t until the 2004 tsunami when evidence of their existence spurred an exploratory research trip when one washed ashore. A 55cm seahorse was found by a rescue crew visiting an island to provide first aid and relief to the natives that did not evacuate. At first, Saury thought it was an adult female of a new species. But they now know it was an immature speciman.
The exact island of the colony of Colossal Seahorses is being kept a closely guarded secret, with cooperation from the Indian government. The expedition to find the seahorses was kept classified as it operated from May of 2006 to December 2009. The species was described in 2010, but it’s existance kept from the public to prevent poaching. Now, with assurances from the Indian government, Seahorse Project feels confident the location can be monitored and kept safe from both over-eager tourists, and would be poachers.
As the scientist chiefly responsible for the find, Saury had the honour of naming the new species. She chose Hippocampus vernumiocus to recognize the surfers who’s adventure into those relatively unexplored islands led to the seahorses’ discovery. “Vernum” which means spring and “iocus” which means, to have fun or to joke. Saury and her team of scientists are working to document them in their native habitat, and are collaborating with the BBC to bring their discovery and life history as the first episode of series 2 of Wonders of Life, hosted by Brian Cox. If all goes as planned, the BBC intends to air the special on April 1, 2014.
I hope you enjoyed our little April Fools day joke.
Haha, funny joke. But how did you make the picture in the first place?
April 11th, 2013 at 9:03 amJust your run of the mill photoshop job. I took 3 different photos and composited them together, matching the light and shadows as best I could.
April 15th, 2013 at 11:47 pmNot funny. Ive just started learning about this. wanting my own… Learning to get set up learning to be prepared before I go out and spend the money on two of them and the set up for a healthy seahorse. Ok might be funny to some old pro,s not someone new like me… i just had carpol tunnell surgery and believe me I got a pencil and pad writing stuff down.. Ive been reading all day about these lovely beautiful things . And I saw the pic and wow was amazed and was reading and got my pencil and paper and with PAIN I wrote the name down and the meaning of Vernum and iocus and well the ending of that was RIGHT there… Not funny ….. ok Im smiling now but I wasnt after the pain staking of trying to write… That was not nice…. debra meadows Villa Rica Georgia
May 1st, 2013 at 7:24 pmHi Debra. I’m really sorry to hear about your trouble. I tried to make it as obvious as I could that it was a joke; especially towards the end. As a chronic pain suffer, I understand how frustrating that may have been. I will make changes to ensure that it’s more clear that it is a joke.
May 3rd, 2013 at 4:46 pmThis was cute! The photo looked a smidge off so I checked the date. Only a little bummed that it isn’t real though, swimming into this thing would probably not be the most comfortable experience.
May 9th, 2013 at 8:48 amTHIS IS DUMB I JUST FAILED MY REPORT I THOUGHT THIS WAS REAL I NEVER SAW THE LAST PART OMG UGH
May 22nd, 2013 at 7:17 amLOL JK
May 22nd, 2013 at 7:19 amThis might have seemed like a joke when you were writing it as you are most likely clever and understanding of all of this knowledge..
June 5th, 2013 at 5:18 amNormal people like me will read this and get excited that there is a new discovery of a huge sea horse in the sea and start to tell their friends about it..
The only reference I noticed it being a joke was the translation of ‘spring joke’ but apart from that, I believed every word.
I guess it’s quite a clever thing to do, but other than that, It was a massive waste of my time reading all of it to discover it was a joke and I realllly wanted to meet a giant sea horse 🙁 I love them! In other words, dumb it down a bit to make it seem more jokey for us blondes 😉 haha xx
I thought this was great,I love good jokes and seahorses….
it would be wonderful if this pony was actually real, and who knows, there may be a real giant seahorse out that somewhere, the ocean is vast and very little of it has been explored
June 28th, 2013 at 12:06 pmToo bad it was not real. Could you imagine how awesome it would be! Something that could eat more shrimp than me? Oh well, you had me going for a minute.
July 15th, 2013 at 4:48 pmI thought this was great. I’m a longtime seahorse keeper, and I love a good joke. I thought the scientific name was particularly funny.
I still wish these were real, though. I’d be planning my next trip right now. 🙂
August 16th, 2013 at 3:01 pmGreat! I’m glad there’s something like it found. I thought, subject’s enormous head is just as big as the Ash white rock I found on a beach. It and the one above had same contour of the face, except that, my unusual find had shorter snout.nose.
November 7th, 2013 at 1:34 amGreat fun! I jumpt in with both legs!Good day for all of you BSN
February 1st, 2014 at 11:36 amnice! i thought it was real for a while 😛
February 2nd, 2014 at 1:52 pm:'( I believe mi deam was real… you’re so cruel!
November 25th, 2014 at 11:21 pmhahaha!! Great!! Love the photo. Imagine the size of the tank for them. And can I get a saddle!!
May 2nd, 2015 at 12:02 amI’m surprised reading the comments some people didn’t realise this was a joke, a well done clever joke!!
Nicely done!
Oh Tami -you dickens you! I’ve just found your site, I don’t keep seahorse nor will I ever( I haven’t the time or dedication) but I admire those who successfully do and are passionate about the welfare of their pets. And the conservation of wild populations.
May 2nd, 2015 at 6:27 amI’m lucky enough to live in Southern Australia, I dive and have encountered 5 different species of seahorse, both species of seadragon and over 30 species of pipefish and pipehorse. Though I once saw a whopper big bellied seahorse that was over a foot in length and another time a huge brush tailed pipefish – it seemed nearly a yard long , I’ve yet to encounter the “species” that you have carefully documented in the above article. What a deafening “SNICK” it would make!!
I saw the April fools photo caption right off at the top of this article and had still hoped there would be some truth this somewhere in the column but of course, no luck. I was almost buying it still near the middle as it was well thought out with detail. As an avid marine fish keeper for years I once came across a seahorse exporter from Hawaii who actually possessed permits to ship the worlds largest seahorse internationally. I was so tempted to purchase a pair which would have run me $250-$300 per each specimen not including my own permits and customs fees etc. Being fully grown, these horses were 12″ tall and required a massive 300 gallon tank (approx. and by advice) to keep. They were a mind-boggling multicolored morph as well which is even more rare. Usually they are found in a pastel to strong yellow though which is still nice. Since then I regretted my pass on the opportunity being I could no longer find them available in the pet trade, anywhere possibly due to scarcity or endangerment which is understandable. I assume one foot isn’t so disappointing after all even when compared to seven because in the usual, marine, pet trade, that is still a giant. It is dubbed the “big bellied” and also “Pot Bellied” seahorse and scientific species name is “Hippocampus abdominalis”. The largest observed or caught was reported to have been around 14″ tall and several others were reported to outgrow the 12″ max but this is still extremely uncommon. Furthermore, I believe they were transshipped from Australia even though it was stated that they were sometimes found off a very obscure and little known pocket off the coast of a particular Hawaiian island. I’ve just never heard of them existing anywhere but Australia. But if true, that could have explained the multi-shaded color morphs or strains that I saw. On any note, I wanted to restore some hope here even if it isn’t an NBA star sized, mega-pony we all wish could be seen slurping up nine inch tiger prawns. Oh well, second best isn’t so bad either.
July 20th, 2015 at 10:54 amOk I just discovered the article which I cut and pasted below. Now if there is any truth to this one then the tables are turned and the jokes on Tami! Lol. And for all those who were so snickerly duped, bamboozled, let down or even had your high hopes so prankishly crushed like an ant under foot, there could be dream salvation after all. I know I dried my internalized tears after reading this one but it does get a bit stranger than fiction. Enjoy…
July 20th, 2015 at 11:41 amCome on my brother was looking at it and got me super amassed and it was a joke
August 22nd, 2015 at 8:39 amThat’s why I was wondering why we have never heard of this species. As I am from Myanmar not far from Andaman, if it should have caught in the fishing net anyway as the size is not small enough to get away, we would have heard it somehow from the fishing vessels. 🙂
April 1st, 2018 at 8:16 pmWell… I could tell it was just an average-sized seahorse, but where did you ever come across a diver that small?
April 3rd, 2018 at 9:16 pm