Seahorse smaller than a grain of rice and other tiny creatures
- Published
This new species of pygmy seahorse, called Hippocampus Nalu, has been found in South Africa. Most pygmy seahorses live in the Pacific Ocean, so scientists were very surprised to find them in Africa. In fact, they were looking for a different seahorse when they discovered this one. This seahorse is only as big as a grain of rice - just imagine how tiny that is!
This pygmy seahorse lives on the Lembeh Strait in Indonesia, and is no more than 2cm tall. These Pacific seahorses have flat-tipped spines, compared to the pointed spines seen on the new species discovered in South Africa.
The world's smallest vertebrate (an animal with a backbone inside their body) is a tiny fish that lives in coral lagoons on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. It's called the stout infantfish (Schindleria brevipinguis) and is no longer than the width of a pencil.
Before the stout infantfish was discovered in 2004, the 1cm-long dwarf goby held the title for "world's smallest vertebrate". It lives on coral reefs of the Indo-West Pacific, but these fish are often also found in home aquariums because they're so easy to care for.
Pygmy marmosets are the smallest monkeys in the world, on average they weigh around 100g and measuring only 13.6 cm. One could easily fit in an adult human's hand.
Two of the smallest species of frogs in the world live in the mountains of Papua New Guinea. They're called Paedophryne dekot (which means very small) and Paedophryne verrucosa (meaning full of warts because of their bumpy skin). They measure less than one centimetre and are smaller than an M&M!
Vaquita porpoises are one of the smallest, growing to just 150 cm (for females) or 140 cm (for males) in length, on average. They're found in Mexico and are extremely rare. They're currently one of world's most endangered marine species, with campaigners estimating there could be just 30 vaquita porpoises left .
Little blue penguins, also called fairy penguins, are the world's smallest species of penguins. They're found on the coastlines of Australia and New Zealand, but if you fancy seeing some closer to home there are also some living at an aquarium in Weymouth. They'll grow to an average of 33cm in height and weight around one kilogram - about the same as a pineapple!
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