Dr. Laura Saury with the first Colossal Seahorse photographed in the wild.

Marine biologist Dr. Laura Saury, a member of the University of British Columbia-based Seahorse Project marine conservation team, has identified the world’s largest known species of seahorse. Topping out at around 7 feet in length, the Colossal Seahorses are straight out of greek mythology.

“They’re absolutely stunning,” said Dr. Laura Saury “And they’ve been under our nose the entire time.” Adults of the new seahorse species known as Hippocampus vernumiocus, grow over 2 meters in length. “We’ve heard about them for years, but assumed it was just myths and exaggerations. Some seahorsea grow to over 30 centemeters, and flutemouths [a distant, snake like relative to the seahorse] get up to 2 meters, so it was easy for us to dismiss as a mixture of confusion and fairy tale.”

The Colossal Seahorse stands on the shoulders of giants before it thought to be the creation of human imagination.. . .

http://www.fusedjaw.com/biology/new-giant-seahorses-discovered-colossal-seahorses/