Habitat characteristcs and density of spotted seahorse Hippocampus kuda at waters of Ternate Island and surroundings, Maluku Utara, Indonesia

Abstract

Seahorses are acknowledged as commodity due to the ornamental and the medical functions. The data of seahorses, particularly in Maluku Utara, has been undetermined yet. The study explores the habitat characteristcs and density of spotted seahorses Hippocampus kuda at waters of Ternate Island and surroundings. The study was held on January and December 2017 that located at waters of Ternate Island and surroundings. Purposive sampling method was implemented to determine the site of stations. The data were collected by applying the method of sampling quadrate (size of 10m x 10m). The characteristics of habitat of seahorse and the density of seahorse were described. The result illuminated that the seahorses were merely discovered at Station 1 and 2 (at south of Ternate Island). The highest density was found on April for the juveniles (3.3 ind/100 m2), as the broodstocks were on October (2.8 ind/100 m2). The presence of juveniles was noted high at Station 1 (75.81%) and none was found at Station 2. The broodstocks’ occurence was extremely high at Station 2 (male 46.77% and female 53.33%), whereas they were presented 24.20% at the Station 1 (male 14.52% and female 9.68%). The water quality at the site the seahorses were occured were temperature 29.1-29.2°C, transparency 1.5-1.7 m, salinity 25.3-25.5 ppt, pH 7.7-7.8, and DO 5.0-5.3 mg/l. The values were lower than the water quality at the site the seahorses were not found.