by Tami Weiss | Jan 30, 2023 | Fish, Science, Seahorses
Introducing H. erectus var. Snowshine. As the head seahorse nerd and proprietor of FusedJaw.com, most of my articles shy away from my own operations. However, I’ve had a project underway I’ve been quietly working on for while that I’m excited to share: The Snowshines, a new variety of Hippocampus erectus. This new variety of seahorses, named Snowshines in honor of both the blustery state they were created (Wisconsin) a well as their unique coloration. Snowshines are still Lined Seahorses, H. erectus, but through selective breeding exhibit an unusual amount of pearlescent white markings, mixed with a base coloration that can manage a wide range of colors, all tinted with a glistening sheen. Light colored Snowshine H. erectus There have been a few varieties of seahorses offered by breeders based on color; but seahorses can change colors, making breeding for color a daunting task. Pintos, pieds, and other piebald varieties are probably the most well known, bur aquarists are frequently disappointed in the finicky color changes that can obscure the prize markings. The trouble with trying to breed for color with seahorses has always been that they are masters of camouflage and change to match their surrounding. But there is no set formula to encourage seahorses to display specific colors. There are certain tricks one can do, such as offer brightly colored holdfasts, but no one technique reliably guarantees color. And no one is quite sure of the extent that color is even an inheritable trait, as seahorses, like octopuses, use chromatophores (color-changing cells) to blend into their environment. Comparing Snowshines to wild-type H. erectus. Left shows a normal wild-type H. erectus at the bottom, and Snowshine var H. erectus above. Right image shows a wild-type H. erectus in the foreground, and Snowshine H. erectus behind it. I’ve been pondering this problem for a while, and decided to approach it from a different direction. Instead of attempting to breed for the base colors, which change, I’ve been selecting for the white coloration that occurs in the saddles and stars. Saddles are white patches that occur on the dorsal side of many seahorses, and stars are the small white dots that appear on many seahorses skin when displaying dark coloration (sometimes confused with ich by novice aquarists.) My observation is that these markings and color are more ‘sticky’ than the wide range of other colors H. erectus can produce. In working on this, I also noticed these markings seem have a certain amount of pearlescent shine. “Saddles” highlighted in yellow, “Stars” highlighted in blue on a wild-type H. erectus. Photo courtesy of Brian Gratwicke Snowshines are the results of using those observations to selectively breed a variety of seahorse that shows these traits amplified. Saddles merge to create large blocks of shiny white coloration. Many of them have masks much like certain clownfish varieties. And while the base color can change; black, green, yellow, and orange, brown are all color combinations I’ve seen underneath the white. My favorite, however, is when they display white on white – they not only show the white patches, but white coloration underneath, while displaying dark horizontal lines characteristic of H. erectus. Just like all seahorses, their colors are flexible, but the pearlescent “shine” stays. For example, many aquarists tend to shy away from darker colored seahorses. But with Snowshines, a black seahorse becomes a dramatic contrast of brilliant white and stark black. And while the exact coloration, shape and appearance does still change as they age as it appears with all seahorses, they keep the most dramatic coloration, the shine. Snowshine brother and sister from two different broods. Large male is 13 months and small female is 5 months in photo. The idea in selecting for these seahorses is partially based on the widespread interest in Hippocampus zebra, a rare deepwater seahorse that has only been found a handful of times. I’ve often wondered why someone doesn’t try to selectively breed H. erectus coloration to imitate H. zebra. H. erectus which has bold lines, but the distinctions between the lines and background colors of H. erectus isn’t very impressive. Eventually the idea brewed in my head long enough, and that someone became me. I didn’t end up with exactly what I set out to create, but I think I’ve created something much more interesting. A white-on-white Snowshine seahorse with bold horizontal stripes H. erectus is known for. Snowshines will be available for the first time through Diver’s Den. For those of you not familiar with Diver’s Den, it’s LiveAquaria.com’s WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) shop that let’s you purchase the exact fish or invertebrate you see photographed. If you’re interested in a truly unique seahorse, keep your eyes glued to Diver’s Den. Snowshines compared to normal H. erectus Snowshine showing white and brown coloration Snowshine seahorse pair showing mottled coloration This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 4th, 2013 at 8:29 am and is filed under Breeding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. by Todd Gardner | Jun 6, 2018 | Science
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting one of the world’s premier seahorse aquaculture facilities: Seahorse Savvy, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The visit materialized when I realized that a pilgrimage to my homeland of Long Island would take me within a few... by AquaNerd | Oct 9, 2017 | Aquaculture, Reef, Science, Seahorses
If you’ve been following us for a while then you know by now that we enjoy posting news about aquacultured and captive bred fish. Today we are pleased to announce the arrival aquacultured Tiger Tail Seahorses. We have learned that these captive bred seahorses just landed at Quality Marine for the 1st time since 2015. Continue reading to see the full press release. Quality Marine Receives Aquacultured Tiger Tail Seahorses Today we are excited to announce the arrival of Aquacultured Tiger Tail Seahorses for the first time since 2015. Our partner’s culture facility has supplied us with other high quality livestock in the past, but has recently expanded to allow for this culture and we’re happy to be a part of their success story as their available species list by AquaNerd | Nov 30, 2016 | Aquaculture, Fish, Seahorses, Sustainability
Quality Marine, located in Los Angeles, CA has been on a streak of acquiring and distributing more and more captive bred ornamental aquarium fish in recent months. The latest captive bred species is the Glow-Tail Pipefish. Traditionally wild caught, these fish have been hard to obtain but they have remained popular in the hobby for a few decades. Quality Marine is importing the Pipefish through Aquarium Des Lagons in French territory of New Caledonia. Read the press release below to learn more about this exciting news. Official Quality Marine Press Release As part of Quality Marine’s continuing effort to promote sustainability and responsibility in the aquarium trade, another commercially aquacultured first is now available through us: the Glow-Tail Pipefish (Dunckerocampus chapmani). These fish are available by AquaNerd | Mar 5, 2016 | Fish, Reef, Science, Seahorses
LONG BEACH (CBSLA.com) — When it comes to getting some much-need rain in the Southland, El Niño has been a letdown – at least so far. But as CBS2’s Jasmine Viel reports, the weather phenomenon may be responsible for pushing rare sea creatures into our waters. Diver Roger Hanson says he couldn’t believe what he found twice Sunday just off the Long Beach coast: a rare Pacific seahorse calmly gliding above the ocean floor in just a few feet of water. “I was shocked,” said Hanson. Hanson had last spotted the spiny curvaceous creature last month, but his determination to capture this seahorse on camera in the chilly water came with a price. “Once I saw the seahorse, I stayed out
