title: A new species of seahorse (Teleostei: Syngnathidae) from the South China Sea.
abstract: A new species of seahorse, Hippocampus casscsio sp. nov. was collected over shallow seagrass beds in Beibu Bay, China. This species is diagnosed from all other seahorse species by morphological characters, including the lower number of tail rings (35); 15 pectoral-fin rays; 16 dorsal-fin rays; a rounded nuchal plate without a raised coronet; a snout length 30% head length; two cheek spines and a dark brown coloration. In addition, molecular analysis showed all individuals of the new species clustering together suggesting a monophyletic lineage. This combined analysis supports the distinctness of H. casscsio sp. nov. as a new species, which is described herein.
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510301, China; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Yan-Hong
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510301, China; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Geng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510301, China; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510301, China; Email: linqiang@scsio.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D023701:Smegmamorpha / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D013045:Species Specificity