No one knew that pygmy seahorses existed until marine biologist George Bargibant came across one by accident. He was studying sea fans - the gorgonian corals found throughout the world's oceans - when out popped a tiny seahorse that resembled a swimming chunk of coral. The species was duly named after him. This Hippocampus bargibant is only about 1 centimetre long, and was photographed by Alex Mustard in the Lembeh Strait at the edge of the Molucca Sea, Indonesia. The animals spend their whole lives in one outgrowth of sea fan and as you might expect are supremely well-camouflaged. So much so that after this species was discovered in the 1960s there was a long lull. "No other species were found until 2000, and now a handful have been found by scuba divers in the tropical Indo-Pacif ic region," says Mustard.
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