Short-head seahorse
Amazing fact
In the short-head seahorse, the male carries developing eggs in a pouch under his belly.
Museums Victoria
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
In the short-head seahorse, the male carries developing eggs in a pouch under his belly.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Short-head seahorse
- Scientific name
- Hippocampus breviceps
- Japanese name
- ショートヘッドシーホース
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Order
- Syngnathiformes
- Family
- Syngnathidae
- Genus
- Hippocampus
Where the name “Short-head seahorse” comes from
The scientific name breviceps comes from Latin words meaning short and head.
Museums VictoriaIt lives on rocky reefs and in seaweed beds in southeastern and southwestern Australia.
How the Short-head seahorse lives
It feeds mainly on small crustaceans such as mysids and copepods. Adults live in groups containing both males and females. It breeds during the summer. Newborn young cling to each other or to floating weed at the surface.
Museums VictoriaBasic data
- Range
- Southeastern and southwestern Australia
Where the Short-head seahorse has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ショートヘッドシーホース
- 简体中文
- 短头海马
- 繁體中文
- 短頭海馬
- Español
- Caballito de Mar Menor
- Deutsch
- Kurzkopf-Seepferdchen
- Português (Brasil)
- Cavalo-marinho-de-focinho-curto
- Italiano
- Cavalluccio dal muso corto
- العربية
- فرس البحر قصير الرأس
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá ngựa đầu ngắn
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — ショートヘッドシーホースChecked: 2026-11-04
- Museums Victoria — Shorthead Seahorse, Hippocampus breviceps Peters 1869Checked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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