The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™
ISSN 2307-8235 (online)
IUCN 2008: T10082A3160775
Hippocampus reidi, Long-snout Seahorse
Assessment by: Project Seahorse
View on www.iucnredlist.org
Citation: Project Seahorse. 2003. Hippocampus reidi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2003:
e.T10082A3160775. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2003.RLTS.T10082A3160775.en
Copyright: © 2015 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorized without prior written
permission from the copyright holder provided the source is fully acknowledged.
Reproduction of this publication for resale, reposting or other commercial purposes is prohibited without prior written
permission from the copyright holder. For further details see Terms of Use.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ is produced and managed by the IUCN Global Species Programme, the IUCN
Species Survival Commission (SSC) and The IUCN Red List Partnership. The IUCN Red List Partners are: BirdLife
International; Botanic Gardens Conservation International; Conservation International; Microsoft; NatureServe; Royal
Botanic Gardens, Kew; Sapienza University of Rome; Texas A&M University; Wildscreen; and Zoological Society of London.
If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown in this document, please provide us with
feedback so that we can correct or extend the information provided.
THE IUCN RED LIST OF THREATENED SPECIES™
Taxonomy
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Animalia
Chordata
Actinopterygii
Syngnathiformes
Syngnathidae
Taxon Name: Hippocampus reidi Ginsburg, 1933
Common Name(s):
• English:
Long-snout Seahorse, Slender Seahorse
Assessment Information
Red List Category & Criteria:
Data Deficient ver 3.1
Year Published:
2003
Date Assessed:
April 30, 2003
Annotations:
Needs Updating
Justification:
There are no published data about population trends or total numbers of mature animals for this
species. There is very little available information about its extent of occurrence or its area of occupancy.
There have been no quantitative analyses examining the probability of extinction of this species. As a
result, the assessors have insufficient data to properly assess the species against any of the IUCN
criteria.
Hippocampus reidi previously was listed in 1996 as VU A2cd under the 1994 criteria. This assessment
was based on suspected past declines in occupancy, occurrence and habitat, as well as on potential
levels of exploitation. In reassessing the species under the new criteria and with greater taxonomic
understanding we find that no appropriate data on biology and ecology, habitat, abundance or
distribution are available for this species. Further research is needed. Assessed as Data Deficient under
the new criteria.
Previously Published Red List Assessments
1996 – Vulnerable (VU)
Geographic Range
Country Occurrence:
Native: Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Bermuda; Brazil; Colombia; Cuba; Grenada; Haiti; Jamaica; Panama;
United States (Florida, North Carolina); Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:
Native: Atlantic - southwest, Atlantic - western central
© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Hippocampus reidi – published in 2003.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2003.RLTS.T10082A3160775.en
1
Population
During Project Seahorse trade surveys conducted between 2000–2001, fishers in Brazil, Guatemala,
Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama reported decreases in the catch of seahorses both in trawls
(as bycatch) and by divers (J. Baum and I. Rosa, unpublished data), but the portion of these declines
attributable to H. reidi is unknown.
Current Population Trend: Unknown
Habitat and Ecology (see Appendix for additional information)
Vari (1982) reports H. reidi at depths as great as 55 m. Small individuals tend to be found in shallower
water than large animals (Dauwe 1993). It has been found on gorgonian corals, seagrass, mangroves
and Sargassum (Lieske and Myers 1994). Hippocampus reidi are pair-bonded in the wild (B. Dauwe and
M. Nijhoff in litt. to Lourie et al. 1999).
This species may be particularly susceptible to decline. All seahorse species have vital parental care, and
many species studied to date have high site fidelity (Perante et al. 2002, Vincent et al., in review), highly
structured social behaviour (Vincent and Sadler 1995), and relatively sparse distributions (Lourie et al.
1999). The importance of life history parameters in determining response to exploitation has been
demonstrated for a number of species (Jennings et al. 1998).
Systems: Marine
Threats (see Appendix for additional information)
Hippocampus reidi are collected and traded in the Americas as aquarium fishes, folk medicine,
curiosities and for religious purposes (Rosa et al. 2002). The volume of this trade is unknown, as there is
confusion between this species and a similar one, H. erectus. Without appropriate management this
trade might represent a threat to the species. H. reidi are also taken as bycatch in shrimp trawl fisheries
in the U.S., Mexico and Central America (Rosa et al. 2002). A study of bycatch in Florida found that most
seahorses in bycatch were H. erectus; this suggests that H. reidi may not be as susceptible to trawling as
H. erectus, possibly because of habitat differences.
Hippocampus reidi is considered threatened in the United States by the American Fisheries Society (AFS)
(Musick et al. 2000). They cite the species' rarity and degradation of its seagrass habitats in South
Florida as reasons for this listing. While this status may apply on a national level, we did not find
information that would justify such a listing for the species as a whole.
Conservation Actions (see Appendix for additional information)
The entire genus Hippocampus was listed in Appendix II of CITES in November 2002. Implementation of
this listing will begin May 2004. The export of syngnathids from Mexico is effectively banned. Permits or
licenses are required to export dried syngnathids from Honduras and Nicaragua, and to export live
syngnathids from Panama, Brazil, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Further research on this species
biology, ecology, habitat, abundance and distribution is needed.
Credits
© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Hippocampus reidi – published in 2003.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2003.RLTS.T10082A3160775.en
2
Assessor(s):
Project Seahorse
Reviewer(s):
Marsden, A.D., Foster, S.J. & Vincent, A.C.J. (Syngnathid Red List Authority)
© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Hippocampus reidi – published in 2003.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2003.RLTS.T10082A3160775.en
3
Bibliography
Baillie, J. and Groombridge, B. (eds). 1996. 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. pp. 378.
International Union for Conservation of Nature, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
Dauwe, B. 1993. Ecologie van het zeepaardje Hippocampus reidi (Syngnathidae) op het koraalrif van
Bonaire (N.A.): Habitatgebruik, reproductie en interspecifieke interacties. Rijksuniversiteit Groningen,
Netherlands.
IUCN. 2003. 2003 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 18
November 2003.
Jennings, S., Reynolds, J.D. and Mills, S.C. 1998. Life history correlates of responses to fisheries
exploitation. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 265:333-339.
Lieske, E. and Myers, R. 1994. Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific and Caribbean
including the Red Sea. Harper Collins Publishers.
Lourie, S.A., Vincent, A.C.J. and Hall, H.J. 1999. Seahorses: an identification guide to the world's species
and their conservation. Project Seahorse, London.
Musick, J.A., Harbin, M.M., Berkeley, S.A., Burgess, G.H., Eklund, A.M., Findley, L., Gilmore, R.G., Golden,
J.T., Ha, D.S., Huntsman, G.R., McGovern, J.C., Parker, S.J., Poss, S.G., Sala, E., Schmidt T.W., Sedberry,
G.R., Weeks, H. and Wright, S.G. 2000. Marine, estuarine, and diadromous fish stocks at risk of
extinction in North America (Exclusive of Pacific Salmonids). Fisheries 25(11): 6-30.
Perante, N.C., Pajaro, M.G., Meeuwig, J.J. and Vincent, A.C.J. 2002. Biology of a seahorse species
Hippocampus comes in the central Philippines. Accepted by Journal of Fish Biology. 2001.
Rosa, I.L., Dias, T.L., and Baum, J.K. 2002. Threatened fishes of the world: Hippocampus reidi Ginsburg,
1933 (Syngnathidae). Environmental Biology of Fishes 64: 378.
Vari, R. 1982. Fishes of the western North Atlantic, subfamily Hippocampinae. The seahorses. Sears
Foundation for Marine Research Memoir, Yale University, USA. 1(8): 173-189.
Vincent, A.C.J. 1990. Reproductive ecology of seahorses. PhD thesis. University of Cambridge.
Cambridge, UK
Vincent, A.C.J. and Sadler, L.M. 1995. Faithful pair bonds in wild seahorses, Hippocampus whitei. Animal
Behaviour 50: 1557-1569.
Vincent, A.C.J., Evans, K.L., and Marsden, A.D. 2005. Home range behaviour of the monogamous
Australian seahorse, Hippocampus whitei. Environmental Biology of Fishes 72: 1–12.
Citation
Project Seahorse. 2003. Hippocampus reidi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2003:
e.T10082A3160775. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2003.RLTS.T10082A3160775.en
Disclaimer
To make use of this information, please check the Terms of Use.
External Resources
© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Hippocampus reidi – published in 2003.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2003.RLTS.T10082A3160775.en
4
For Images and External Links to Additional Information, please see the Red List website.
© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Hippocampus reidi – published in 2003.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2003.RLTS.T10082A3160775.en
5
Appendix
Habitats
(http://www.iucnredlist.org/technical-documents/classification-schemes)
Habitat
Season
Suitability
Major
Importance?
9. Marine Neritic -> 9.1. Marine Neritic - Pelagic
-
Suitable
-
Threats
(http://www.iucnredlist.org/technical-documents/classification-schemes)
Threat
Timing
Scope
Severity
Impact Score
5. Biological resource use -> 5.4. Fishing & harvesting
aquatic resources -> 5.4.6. Motivation
Unknown/Unrecorded
Ongoing
-
-
-
Stresses:
2. Species Stresses -> 2.1. Species mortality
Conservation Actions in Place
(http://www.iucnredlist.org/technical-documents/classification-schemes)
Conservation Actions in Place
In-Place Education
Included in international legislation: Yes
Subject to any international management/trade controls: Yes
Conservation Actions Needed
(http://www.iucnredlist.org/technical-documents/classification-schemes)
Conservation Actions Needed
1. Land/water protection -> 1.1. Site/area protection
1. Land/water protection -> 1.2. Resource & habitat protection
2. Land/water management -> 2.1. Site/area management
3. Species management -> 3.1. Species management -> 3.1.1. Harvest management
3. Species management -> 3.1. Species management -> 3.1.2. Trade management
4. Education & awareness -> 4.2. Training
4. Education & awareness -> 4.3. Awareness & communications
6. Livelihood, economic & other incentives -> 6.1. Linked enterprises & livelihood alternatives
© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Hippocampus reidi – published in 2003.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2003.RLTS.T10082A3160775.en
6
Research Needed
(http://www.iucnredlist.org/technical-documents/classification-schemes)
Research Needed
0. Root -> 100.1. OLD 1.1.1-Policy-base actions->Management plans->Development
1. Research -> 1.2. Population size, distribution & trends
1. Research -> 1.3. Life history & ecology
1. Research -> 1.5. Threats
1. Research -> 1.6. Actions
3. Monitoring -> 3.1. Population trends
© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Hippocampus reidi – published in 2003.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2003.RLTS.T10082A3160775.en
7
The IUCN Red List Partnership
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ is produced and managed by the IUCN Global Species
Programme, the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) and The IUCN Red List Partnership. The IUCN
Red List Partners are: BirdLife International; Botanic Gardens Conservation International; Conservation
International; Microsoft; NatureServe; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Sapienza University of Rome; Texas
A&M University; Wildscreen; and Zoological Society of London.
THE IUCN RED LIST OF THREATENED SPECIES™