Hippocampus waleananus

{{Short description|Species of fish}}

{{Speciesbox

| image = Hippocampus waleananus.jpg

| status = CITES_A2

| status_system = CITES

| status_ref = {{Cite web|title=Appendices {{!}} CITES|url=https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php|access-date=2022-01-14|website=cites.org}}

| taxon = Hippocampus waleananus

| authority = M. F. Gomon & Kuiter, 2009

}}

Hippocampus waleananus, the Walea pygmy seahorse, is a species of seahorse endemic to the Togian Islands in Indonesia, and is associated with specific soft corals.{{Cite journal|last1=Gomon|first1=Martin F.|last2=Kuiter|first2=Rudie H.|date=January 2009|title=Two new pygmy seahorses (Teleostei: Syngnathidae: Hippocampus) from the Indo-West Pacific.|url=https://aqua-aquapress.com/two-new-pygmy-seahorses-teleostei-syngnathidae-hippocampus-from-the-indo-west-pacific-2/|journal=Aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology|volume=15|pages=37–44}}{{fishbase|Hippocampus|waleananus|month=December |year=2023}} The species was described in 2009 from a single specimen which was found close to the island Walea. A 2016 classification considered it a synonym of Hippocampus satomiae, Lourie & Kuiter, 2008 due to lack of sufficient morphological differences,{{cite journal | last1 = Lourie | first1 = S. A. | last2 = Pollom | first2 = R.A. | last3 = Foster | first3 = S.J. | year = 2016 | title = A global revision of the seahorses Hippocampus Rafinesque 1810 (Actinopterygii: Syngnathiformes): taxonomy and biogeography with recommendations for further research | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 4146 | issue = 1| pages = 1–66 | doi = 10.11646/zootaxa.4146.1.1 | pmid = 27515600 }} but following a reevaluation it is now recognised as a distinct species.{{Cite journal|last1=Short|first1=Graham|last2=Smith|first2=Richard|last3=Motomura|first3=Hiroyuki|last4=Harasti|first4=David|last5=Hamilton|first5=Healy|date=2018-08-02|title=Hippocampus japapigu, a new species of pygmy seahorse from Japan, with a redescription of H. pontohi (Teleostei, Syngnathidae)|url=https://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=24799|journal=ZooKeys|language=en|issue=779|pages=27–49|doi=10.3897/zookeys.779.24799|issn=1313-2970|pmid=30166895|pmc=6110155|doi-access=free|bibcode=2018ZooK..779...27S }}