Author: Leach, 1814
Hippocampus ramulosus Leach, 1814
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Hippocampus guttulatus Cuvier, 1829 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: rings 10-12 + 36-40, D 18-21 (usually 19 or more), P 15-18 (usually 17). Snout relatively long, its length usually 2.5-2.75 in HL; usually with dermal flaps on head and trunk. Colour: variably brown to black, sometimes reddish or yellow; usually with numerous blue-white spots. Size: to about 16 cm.
Habitat: mostly in shallow inshore waters among algae, etc. Food: no data. Reproduction: mostly brooding April-October, pouch-eggs 1.9-2.0 mm in diameter, 3-5 week incubation period, early free-living young about 15-16 mm TL.
Distribution: British Isles and southwards to Morocco, Madeira and the Azores, also Mediterranean and Black Seas, including the Sea of Azov.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Rauther, 1925: 10, pl. II (fig. 18) | d'Ancona, 1933: 296, pl. XVII (fig. 10) | Brunelli, 1922: 1, 2 pl.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.