Hippocampus

Hippocampus (Sea Horse), a genus of Lophobrunch fishes of the family Syngnathidee, with about twenty species widely distributed, especially in tropical and subtropical seas. They are of small size, and the front part of the body presents a strange resemblance to that of a horse, and ends in front in a snout, and behind in a prehensile tail, which in the males has a sac at its base, in which they carry the eggs. Pectoral fins and a soft dorsal are present. II. antiquarian, common in the Mediterranean, is sometimes taken on our coasts. The three species of the allied genus Phyllopteryx, from Australia, arc about a foot long. There is no pouch, but the eggs are embedded in the soft membrane near the tail. The body is covered with filaments so as to resemble floating weed. [Fishes, vol. iv. p. 305.]