iSeahorse's latest featured observation comes to us from hdarrin, who managed to snag a photo of a giraffe seahorse (Hippocampus camelopardalis) in Inhambane Bay, Mozambique.

H. camelopardalis makes its home along the southeast coast of Africa from Tanzania to western South Africa. It lives in seagrass, algal beds, and on shallow reefs. The species is traded heavily in Tanzania as a curio, but is listed as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, as very little is known about it.

This and other future observations of the Giraffe Seahorse on iSeahorse will be used by scientists and conservationsists to get a better idea about its biology and geographic distribution, and will hopefully help to inform decisions about the management of its ocean habitat.

Thanks for the observation hdarrin!