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| Photo by Basil Bohn |
Enigmatic by nature Pontoh’s Pygmy Seahorse fits like a
puzzle piece into the drifting, moving, swaying landscape of her hidden hydroid
home. She appears fragile with a figure the dimension of my thumbnail. Yet, she
moves with relative confidence and ease. Her twiney tail wraps tightly around
the base of one hydroid, before she pushes off and moves in one great leap of
her tiny frame, tail grasping the next hydroid base to tightly anchor once
again.
Found beneath the shelter of the wreck she is well hidden
from potential dangers of ocean currents and predators as she nestles into her
home. Her creamy beiges and browns mirroring the mossy world which she
inhabits, difficult to spot by divers and predators alike. With no teeth and no
stomach she must constantly prey on the tiny crustaceans and planktonic
organisms. Watch long enough and you will see, a teensy snout protrude to slurp
up her tiny prey.
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| Photo by Basil Bohn |
This charismatic creature, also called the weedy pygmy
seahorse, was only discovered in 2008. Once again, the small Island of Pom Pom
and TRACC has been privileged with rarity and majesty in a diminutive form.
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If you want to help with any marine conservation activity, please
check our website http://tracc.org or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org
For more updates on TRACC check out our Facebook, Twitter or Google +
If you want to help with any marine conservation activity, please
check our website http://tracc.org or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org
For more updates on TRACC check out our Facebook, Twitter or Google +
Reef conservation would not be possible without generous financial support from
GEF /SGP for Malaysia who are helping our community activities and coralreefcare.com who generously provided materials to build the new reefs.
If visits to Tracc are not possible then please help with financial support and follow their projects on Facebook.