First Record and Morphological Identification of the Seahorse Hippocampus kelloggi Great Seahorse Jordan and Snyder (1902) in Coastal Waters of Pakistan

Abstract

The first record of seahorse Hippocampus kelloggi commonly known as the great Seahorse from the coastal waters of Pakistan based on morphological and morphometric characteristics. The Seahorses belong to family Syngnathidae and about 50 species have been reported across the world. They have been found to inhabit coral reefs, seagrass beds and also coastal mangroves. All seahorse species ( Hippocampus sp .) are vulnerable and according to the global conservation status of Hippocampus kelloggi is also among them. H. kelloggi is listed as data deficient since 2003 and then classified as IUCN Red List (http://www.iucnredlist.org) Category & Criteria: A2cd version 3.1 (2017). The Hippocampus kelloggi previously recorded from the Indo Pacific regions, including China; India; Indonesia; Japan; Malaysia; Philippines; Thailand; United Republic of Tanzania; Viet Nam. The current study confirmed the presence of H. kelloggi from the coastal waters of Pakistan.