Social structure and space use in a wild population of the Australian short-headed seahorse Hippocampus breviceps Peters, 1869
Marie-Annick Moreau A B D and Amanda C. J. Vincent A CA Project Seahorse, Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, H3A 1B1, Canada.
B Present address: Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, H3A 2K6, Canada.
C Present address: Project Seahorse, Fisheries Centre, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, Canada.
D Corresponding author. Email: mariannick.moreau@mail.mcgill.ca
Marine and Freshwater Research 55(3) 231-239 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF03159
Submitted: 6 October 2003 Accepted: 27 February 2004 Published: 19 May 2004
Abstract
This paper presents the first information available from repeated field observations of a wild Hippocampus breviceps population, and an uncommon example of mixed-sex social grouping in seahorses. At two study sites in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia, adult seahorses were found at a mean density of 0.21 seahorses per m2 over rocky reef–algal habitat. Each site had a sex ratio of 1 : 1. Seahorses showed varying degrees of site fidelity, with 12 of 38 adults present in the study area throughout the 5-week study period. Adults at the sites moved within small (1–12 m2) and overlapping (with 2–10 others) spatial areas, with most seahorses restricting their movements in the early morning to a smaller core area. Females used significantly larger spatial areas and core areas than did males. Core areas generally coincided with particular seaweeds at which stable groups of two to five seahorses would be found each morning. These core areas were commonly the site of social encounters. Adult seahorses engaged in displays and interactions with opposite-sex partners, although not every day, and not necessarily with the same partner at each encounter. Longer-term observations over a larger study area are necessary to characterise H. breviceps’ movement patterns and mating system more precisely.
Extra keywords: fish behaviour, home range, population structure, social interaction, Syngnathidae.
Acknowledgments
This paper is a contribution from Project Seahorse. Special thanks to N. A. J. Graham for his excellent assistance with data collection in the field, and to M. Edmunds for his tremendous support with the pilot study. We also thank B. Giles, who provided much appreciated advice on statistical analyses and assistance with the figures. We thank our colleagues at Project Seahorse, particularly J. Curtis, S. Foster and K. Martin-Smith for their valuable suggestions on the manuscript, as well as A. Kendrick and two anonymous reviewers. We gratefully acknowledge the help and support in the field of R. Watson (Queenscliff Marine Research Station), G. Grant, A. Crestani and particularly R. Kuiter, for first showing us where to find the seahorses and kindly sharing his knowledge of these animals with us. Funding for this project was provided by Guylian Chocolates Belgium.
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