Seahorses

I really wanted to see seahorses in Raja Ampat, and I imagined them as I'd seen them in the aquariums - cute, clinging to plants, looking adorable.  This was not to be.  It turns out that the pygmy seahorses, the teeny ones, are deeper than a snorkeler can see - and so small most divers have a very hard time seeing them too.  They have great camo.  What you can see, however, is the larger "common seahorse" and we were told to look for these in "just a few inches of water."

Sure enough, one of our guides found one  - and another nearby - very near the beach in the sandy area where just a few inches of water covered them.  When he said 'Seahorse" I swam over really fast thinking I might miss it.  Then I saw this:

"Ummm," I asked him, "Is it dead??"  "No, it's fine.  That's just how they are." He replied.  Oh.  It looked very sad and depressed and totally lethargic.  It just sort of floated in the waves not moving on its own.  Here are a few views from right over the top of this male:

The second one was brighter in color, but not any more active or less sad looking.

"Less like a horse and more like Eeyore" my clever husband remarked.  Absolutely true.  I ended up feeling bad for the poor things.  We saw one other seahorse on another day - same level of lethargy and melancholy.  I was really glad I saw them, but this is an instance where the reality of wildlife in the wild differed sharply from expectation.