Although five species of seahorse have been said to have been recorded in South Australian waters, Janine Baker advises us, “There are (just) two species of seahorse in South Australia: Pot-belly, (Hippocampus) abdominalis (some call it bleekeri – (but they are the) same thing), and Short-head / Short-snout (Hippocampus) breviceps. There is no reliable evidence for H tristis or H whitei occurring as populations in SA. Museum records have been examined well after the early documentation of those species. The old record of H. tristis “off Adelaide” is not evidence that it occurs here, despite it erroneously being cited in distribution for that subtropical species. H. whitei is endemic to eastern Australia.
The conservation status of all seahorses is generally regarded as data deficient, yet all are seahorses are fully protected from fishing or collection in South Australian waters, under the Fisheries Management Act 2007.
Observation records on iNaturalist suggest that the Short snouted seahorse (Hippocampus breviceps) is the seahorse most commonly encountered by divers and snorkellers.
| Genus | Species | Common name | Described |
| Hippocampus | breviceps | Short snouted seahorse | 1869, Peters |
| Hippocampus | abdominalis | Bigbelly seahorse | 1827, Lesson |
| *Hippocampus | whitei | Common seahorse | 1855, Bleeker |
| **Hippocampus | bleekeri | Australian pot-belly seahorse | 1908, Fowler |
| *Hippocampus | tristis | Dull seahorse | 1872, Castelnau |
* (As expalined above, Janine Baker advises us that “There is no reliable evidence for H tristis or H whitei occurring as populations in SA. Museum records have been examined well after the early documentation of those species. The old record of H. tristis “off Adelaide” is not evidence that it occurs here, despite it erroneously being cited in distribution for that subtropical species. H. whitei is endemic to eastern Australia.”
** (As expalined above, Janine Baker advises us that “some call Hippocampus abdominalis Hippocampus bleekeri , but they are both the same thing.
Hi MLSSA. There are two species of seahorse in South Australia: Pot-belly abdominalis (some call it bleekeri – same thing), and Short-head / Short-snout breviceps. There is no reliable evidence for H tristis or H whitei occurring as populations in SA. Museum records have been examined well after the early documentation of those species. The old record of H. tristis “off Adelaide” is not evidence that it occurs here, despite it erroneously being cited in distribution for that subtropical species. H. whitei is endemic to eastern Australia e.g. : https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/6b53ca61-282b-4ec7-9028-10c384ff0a47