Hippocampus comes Cantor, 1849

Open encyclopedia reference

The tiger tail seahorse (Hippocampus comes) is a species of fish in the family Syngnathidae. The species was first described by Theodore Cantor in 1850. It is found in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtidal aquatic beds and coral reefs. It is threatened by habitat loss. The tiger tail sea horse lives in Western Central Pacific: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. It lives from 0-1.5 years in captivity and in the wild, 1–5 years. It is harmless. Its climate in water is tropical; 15°N – 1°N and Its maximum size is 18.7 cm. Its snout is 2.2 in head length; it is used to suck up food. They eat small fish, coral, small shrimp, and plankton. The most common pattern is alternating yellow and black. The tail has stripes from the belly to the tip of the tail. These sea horses are normally found in pairs on coral reefs, sponge gardens, kelp, or floating Sargassum. This species is nocturnal.

Wikipedia contributors, Tiger tail seahorse; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T22:48:34.183207+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Hippocampus comes Cantor, 1849

Name authority

Cantor, 1849

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Syngnathiformes

Family

Syngnathidae

Genus

Hippocampus

Extinction status

Not supplied by this source

Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. gigaclassActinopterygii
8. superclassActinopteri
9. classTeleostei
10. orderSyngnathiformes
11. familySyngnathidae Bonaparte, 1831
12. subfamilySyngnathinae Bonaparte, 1831
13. genusHippocampus Rafinesque, 1810
14. speciesHippocampus comes Cantor, 1849

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Hippocampus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 259 records assigned to Syngnathidae.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. Cantor, T. E. (1849). Catalogue of Malayan fishes. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 18. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:3LZL3. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.