What a beauty! says new Redmap NSW coordinator
This is a great photo of a great seahorse (Hippocampus kelloggi) spotted by a diver near Sydney! It's also quite a special sighting, according to new Redmap NSW coordinator Dr Troy Gaston.
Photo credit: Andrew Trevor-Jones (uploaded on redmap.org.au)
“What a great effort in sighting this protected, rarely-spotted species!" Dr Gaston explains of his enthusiasm for this Redmap sighting.
"The great seahorse is listed as data deficient by the IUCN [International Union for Conservation of Nature] and we need more information about it.”
The elusive seahorse was photographed off Bare Island, Botany Bay, by diver and Redmap member Andrew Trevor-Jones. You can see the full sighting on Redmap:
Dr Gaston, senior lecturer in Environmental Sciences at the University of Newcastle, recently took over the reigns as Redmap NSW coordinator.
Redmap welcomes him to the team -- and Dr Gaston welcomes all your photos of uncommon marine life in NSW seas!
There is scant information about Hippocampus kelloggi, but here's one we found:
http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=66723
