Lorena+Kowalewski+-+Slender+Seahorse

=Slender or Longsnout Seahorse://Hippocampus reidi//=

Natural Habitat and Location
Hippocampus reidi lives in a number of areas. They live in coral reefs, sea grass beds and in mangrove roots. Plants in these habitats offer holds for the hippocampus reidi to attach itself to. A slender seahorse can be commonly found off the coast of North Carolina, Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela, Bermuda and the Bahamas. The sea-horses can also be found floating freely in these waters.

Niche
The slender seahorse is one of many seahorses. It is larger than most varieties. In fact, the main difference between a slender seahorse and a giant sea horse is that the slender seahorse is slimmer. The slender seahorse is 7 inches in length. There are around 35 rings on it's tail and 15-17 rings on the main body. The coloring varies from shades of red, yellow and orange based on surroundings, but all are spotted. During the mating season, colors change more frequently. Courtship causes the color change. The sea-horses can live up to five years and can produce offspring during their eight-month long mating season. Males carry the young in a pouch for two weeks. The males can give birth up to 1,600 babies. Sea-horses can be found alone or in small groups. Caridea shrimp are the basis of the diet, along with other small crustaceans. A study has shown that sea horses usually eat daily around twilight. They attach to underwater plants and sea fans in subtropical waters. The sea-horses have commensalism relationships with their surroundings. They use the plants to keep them from floating away, but the plant is neither harmed nor benefitted. It had a predator-prey relationship with shrimp and zooplankton.

Reasons why Hippocampus Reidi is Endangered
The slender seahorse was first listed as a "vulnerable" species in 1996. In 2002 it was deemed endangered and then in 2003 it was considered "data deficient". This means there is no substantial data on the population of the seahorse to be able to determine how many sea-horses are in the world. Nevertheless, they are considered endangered. The lack of data is due to the fact that sea horses are difficult to study because they are elusive. Tracking an endangered seahorse is even more difficult. There are a few know threats that make studying this animal challenging. The animal is overfished and sold as souvenirs. In the areas around Central America people use the slender seahorse in traditional medicine. The sea-horses are also caught to be put in aquariums. With these limiting factors, scientists have a hard time gathering enough information to fully understand the biology of the longsnout seahorse.

The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is a federal law that forces government agencies to protect endangered and threatened species. Under the law, the agencies must form programs to help conserve the animals or plants and not take any action that could potentially harm the species. The government is also required to protect the habitats of these species as well. The law prohibits taking the species out of its natural habitat or exporting or importing any of the endangered or threatened species. An endangered species is defined as one that has the possibility of becoming extinct. On the other hand, a threatened species is one that could become endangered in the future. Although the longsnout seahorse is considered endangered, the law is not protecting its existence. The seahorse is being taken out of its habitat and being sold.

There have been efforts taken by the United States and Central American countries to protect the seahorse. The United States officially put it on the endangered species list in 2002 but did not go into effect until 2004. By finally appearing on the list, the sea-horses were able to receive the protection from the Endangered Species Act. An organization named Project Seahorse was created. The group specifically focused on regulating trade in order to protect the species. It is now prohibited to export any type of seahorse out of Mexico and a permit is required to export a seahorse in Panama and Brazil. The exportation of seahorses has gone down since permits have been required to sell a seahorse.

Work Cited
//Aquatic Connection//. (n.d.). Retrieved October 9, 2009, from http://www.aquacon.com/‌saltwater-fish-index.html

Boot, K. (2001). Slender Seahorse. In //Endangered Wildlife and Plants of the World// (p. 1257). Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish Corporation. //The Endangered Species Act of 1973: Summary//. (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2009, from http://walter.arizona.edu/‌society/‌policy/‌esa/‌ESA1.asp

Felicio, A., Rosa, I., Souto, A., & Freitas, R. (2006, February 4). //Feeding behavior of the longsnout seahorse Hippocampus reidi Ginsburg, 1933//. Retrieved October 3, 2009, from http://www.springerlink.com/‌content/‌682k643u3278147l/

FishBase. (2009, July 15). //Hippocampus reidi Ginsburg, 1933 Longsnout seahorse//. Retrieved October 11, 2009, from http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/‌summary/‌SpeciesSummary.php?genusname=Hippocampus&speciesname=reidi

Guenterleitenbauer. (2008, March 25). //Seahorse (Seepferdchen, Hippocampus)// [A photo blog.]. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/‌photos/‌guenterleitenbauer/‌2354747873

International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. (2003). //Hippocampus Reidi//. Retrieved October 2, 2009, from http://www.iucnredlist.org/‌details/‌10082/‌0/‌full

//Project Seahorse: Advancing Marine Convservation//. (2009, September 30). Retrieved from http://seahorse.fisheries.ubc.ca/‌Resources/‌position.html#pos6

Rosa, I. L., Dias, T. L., & Baum, J. K. (1993). //Threatened fishes of the world: Hippocampus reidi Ginsburg, 1993//. Retrieved October 2, 2009, from http://resources.metapress.com/‌pdf-preview.axd?code=98y3a7hvwanq4gfq&size=largest

ZipcodeZoo. (2009, July 2). //Hippocampus reidi (Longsnout Seahorse)//. Retrieved October 4, 2009, from http://zipcodezoo.com/‌Animals/‌H/‌Hippocampus_reidi/ 