Diseases of captive yellow seahorse <i>Hippocampus kuda</i> <scp>B</scp>leeker, pot‐bellied seahorse <i>Hippocampus abdominalis</i> <scp>L</scp>esson and weedy seadragon <i>Phyllopteryx taeniolatus</i> (<scp>L</scp>acépède)

Abstract

Seahorses, pipefish and seadragons are fish of the Family Syngnathidae. From 1998 to 2010, 172 syngnathid cases from the Toronto Zoo were submitted for post-mortem diagnostics and retrospectively examined. Among the submitted species were yellow seahorses Hippocampus kuda Bleeker (n=133), pot-bellied seahorses Hippocampus abdominalis Lesson (n=35) and weedy seadragons Phyllopteryx taeniolatus (Lacépède; n=4). The three most common causes of morbidity and mortality in this population were bacterial dermatitis, bilaterally symmetrical myopathy and mycobacteriosis, accounting for 24%, 17% and 15% of cases, respectively. Inflammatory processes were the most common diagnoses, present in 117 cases. Seven neoplasms were diagnosed, environmental aetiologies were identified in 46 cases, and two congenital defects were identified.