The 14th edition of Marine Life monthly post is sponsored by Dive Inspire. Dive Inspire offers creative products inspired by the wonders of our oceans. Three unique items from Dive Inspire will be given to three lucky winners! And this time some of the items are related to a cute pygmy seahorse: Hippocampus bargibanti.

Hippocampus bargibanti (these images were captured in North Sulawesi, Indonesia)

The Hippocampus bargibanti is a very tiny seahorse. But don’t let its size fool you. This species is one of the popular celebrities in the scuba world especially for divers who love macro photography (yep, I am one of the fans).  I have seen the seahorse on several dives and always found it a challenge to take a good picture. Let me share few facts that I have learned about this tiny celebrity.

Hippocampus bargibanti

First fact. It was the first species of pygmy seahorse to be found and it was found unexpectedly by the scientist George Bargibant when he was collecting specimens of sea fans (gorgonians), in which is the natural habitat of the seahorse. Hence the name Bargibanti for this creature.

Second fact. It is a well-camouflaged species. It has the ability to change color to match the sea fan it lives on (pink or yellow colors). With its size less than 2 centimeters from the tip of the tail to the end of its snout it is very hard to spot it. As a celebrity, the Bargibanti pygmy seahorse knows well how to hide from its fans 🙂

Pregnant Hippocampus bargibanti

Third fact. The male bargibanti gets pregnant. No typo, male bargibanti gets pregnant and delivers. The female bargibanti deposits her eggs to the male bargibanti’s pouch to be fertilized. After 10 to 14 days the male gives birth to about a dozen babies.

Fourth facts. The Bargibanti pygmy seahorse does not have eyelids. Therefore this pygmy seahorse is very sensitive to light. I usually fire my flash at the lowest level and not more than three times. If there were several scuba divers before me taking its pictures with flash then I just will look and swim by. We don’t want this tiny celebrity to get blind because of ‘scuba paparazzi’, do we 😉

Now, let’s see how good your eyes are in finding the pygmy seahorse in sea fans!

How many Bargibanti pygmy seahorses do you see in the following picture?

The first THREE correct answers will get gifts from Dive Inspire!

Click for higher resolution image to find the seahorse (Image was taken in North Sulawesi – Indonesia)

Some readers may remember the above image. It was published earlier in one of the Marine Life posts about “Undersea Camouflage”. However this time with different a question 😉

Just click the image for higher resolution to help you find all seahorses. Good luck!

The Gifts from Dive Inspire

Dive Inspire is kindly offering three items for three winners as following

Random.org will help me in deciding the item for each winner. I will announce the answer and the winners on Sunday 4th October 2015.

Thank you to Dive Inspire for sponsoring the giveaway!

Dive Inspire is a young and energetic company based in Thailand. It was founded in May 2014 by passionate recreational scuba divers who have desire to incorporate the amazing underwater world with daily life. “Fulfilling our own desire” is the best way to describe Dive Inspire. Nudibranch is the initial inspiration of Dive Inspire.

Its collection was initially designed around the graceful nudibranch and later on extended to other deep-sea species aiming to introduce these fantastic creatures to all beloved divers and everyone. The items have been created for different functions from clothing, decorative items to accessories which can be tagged along anywhere you go. Dive Inspire wishes that its product can help alleviate sea-sick during working days for divers without carrying scuba tank, breathing through regulator or dealing with nitrogen narcosis including all who love or start falling in love with underwater world just like us.

Official website of Dive Inspire: http://www.diveinspire.com/

Please join Dive Inspire in Facebook Page and Instagram to stay inspired by the beauty of ocean and its colorful marine life!

Stay tune for the next Marine Life post  every 19^th of the month!

Also submitted to Monday Escapes #18

The quiz is closed and the winners are: The Winner & Honorable Mention of Bargibanti Quiz