The slender seamoth is a peculiar bottom-dweller found across the Indo-Pacific, rarely exceeding 20 cm in length. Its flattened body and wing-like pectoral fins give it an almost mythical appearance, though it spends most of its time shuffling across sandy or muddy seafloor at depths between 50 and 500 metres, using elongated pelvic fins to probe for small crustaceans and other prey. Despite their delicate appearance, seamoths are well-armoured with bony plates, and they are surprisingly cryptic—easy to miss even when resting in plain sight on the bottom.
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Dactylopteriformes
- Family
- Pegasidae
- Genus
- Pegasus