Pegasus (fish) explained

Pegasus is a genus of seamoths found in coastal tropical marine waters. The name was taken from the winged horse Pegasus in Greek mythology. This horse was created with Medusa´s blood. The member species are distributed in the Indo-West Pacific Ocean waters around: Australia, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mozambique, Myanmar, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, Tanzania and Thailand.

Species

There are currently 5 recognized species in this genus:

• Pegasus lancifer Kaup, 1861 (Sculptured seamoth)
• Pegasus laternarius G. Cuvier, 1816 (Brick seamoth)
• Pegasus volitans Linnaeus, 1758 (Long-tail seamoth)
• Pegasus tetrabelos Osterhage, Pogonoski, Appleyard & W. T. White, 2016 (Short-spined seamoth) ^[1]
• Pegasus sinensis Ying-Yi Zhang, Rong-Rong Zhang, Shao-Bo Ma, Shuai-Shuai Liu, Qiang Lin and Xin Wang], 2022 (Chinese seamoth)^[2]

Notes and References

1. .Osterhage, D., Pogonoski, J.J., Appleyard, S.A. & White, W.T. (2016): Integrated Taxonomy Reveals Hidden Diversity in Northern Australian Fishes: A New Species of Seamoth (Genus Pegasus). PLoS ONE, 11 (3): e0149415.
2. Zhang. Ying-Yi. Zhang. Rong-Rong. Ma. Shao-Bo. Liu. Shuai-Shuai. Lin. Qiang. Wang. Xin. 18 July 2022. A new seamoth species of Pegasus (Syngnathiformes: Pegasidae) from the East China Sea. Zoological Research. 43. 4. 675–678. 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2022.109. 9336449. 35791615. vanc.