Miguel Ramirez, 46, a Reunion lifeguard in Le Tampon, discovered a very rare species of seahorse during a dive in the east of the island, in Sainte-Rose.
Miguel Ramirez and David Pleuvret are two passionate amateur underwater photographers. Usually diving in the west at the Gloria Maris club, they decide to dive in Sainte-Rose.
Surprise for these two divers, they come across a rare species of seahorse. A new discovery for these enthusiasts: “Yes I found it by chance a month ago during a dive“
He recounts his discovery:
“Yesterday, when the sea was raging and the outings were all canceled (waves up to 5m), we decided with friends to dive in the only protected place on the island, on the east coast.
During the dive, I spotted a juvenile, black ribbon moray eel. Deciding to take a close-up with my macro lens, I look for it in the viewfinder of my camera. But I can’t find it in the viewfinder… And there, I come across this seahorse, which was 5cm from the moray eel, and which I hadn’t seen before…
A big stroke of luck to have stumbled upon it! During the afternoon dive I managed to find it in the algae, a little further away (we saw it moving around sometimes looking for food). Delighted also for my friend David Pleuvret who had never had the opportunity to see a seahorse underwater”
Observed twice in the world, first in 1990 in the Seychelles but dead, then in 2022 in Mauritius, the Tyro seahorse appears in our waters. A first, confirmed by Ronald Fricke, German ichthyologist and biodiversity researcher at the National Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart.
