TRAVELSPECIAL
Pontohi pygmy seahorse, about 1.3cm
Bargibanti pygmy seahorse, red variant
Denise pygmy seahorse
Bargibanti in yellow
Pygmy palaces
A fan coral may be a modest sized home by human standards, but for pygmy seahorses they are the ultimate des-res. The fan isn’ t just a randomly chosen habitat; specific fan-types are required by the seahorses.
We saw three types of pygmy seahorse on the reefs of South Halmahera:
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Hippocampus bargibanti in both yellow and red variants; a single sighting of the the worm-like Hippocampus denise and plenty of the seldom seen Hippocampus pontohi.
It was my first time photographing the pontohi seahorses, and it was close to impossible. In the first instance, they are even smaller than the other species,
Shrimpfish shelter in a sponge
themselves about the size of a little fingernail. They tend to live in weedy habitats rather than the conveniently clean fan corals favoured by the bargibanti and denise seahorses. And they are active predators, constantly hopping around the hydroids in search of microscopic meals.
Ah, and that’ s another thing. If you brush against one of the hydroids, you get an instant sting; like a nettle to the power of 10. Then the pain recedes and you’ ve forgotten all about it an hour later, only for it to flare up into maddeningly itchy welts two days later. Underwater photography 101: mind your surroundings.
Night walkers
Sali Bay has a very pleasant bar, so night dives were not high on my group’ s agenda. All the same, I managed two night dives, and found plenty to get excited about. The star of the house reef is the endemic Halmahera epaulette shark, Hemiscylilium halmahera, a species of bamboo shark known for its habit of‘ walking’ along the seabed on pectoral fins.
There were also two wildly contrasting cephalopods. In the shallows near the jetty, a confident broadclub cuttlefish,