Pregnant Denise Pygmy Seahorses

To follow a guest request we went to see a sea fan with Denise Pygmy Seahorses on yesterday’s morning dives. This particular fan had 3 individuals living in it. As the seafan is easiely accessable from both sides, they are very cool to watch. Two of them had big blown up bellies and were obviously pregnant. Most probably these two indiviuals are gonna be proud fathers within the next week …
As all seahorses the male denise pygmy seahorse is the one that incubates the eggs in his belly. Pygmy seahorses mostly live in Pairs (sometimes several in one fan) and release their hatchlings usually at night. The babies then drift off in to a pelagic state and hopefully will settle down on another seafan. In Lembeh at least 4 species of Pygmy Seahorse can be seen: Bargibanti, Pontohi, Severn’s Pygmy Seahorse and Denise.