Sea Horses

[Ron Quido]

Where is the best place to see sea horses?

 

[mstevens]

Relatively shallow areas with relatively low current.The good divemasters know where they hang out. We tell our divemaster if we're looking for something in particular if that's our goal on a dive rather than telling him where we want to go.

 

[Oldbear]

What range of sizes are there? Are they still there in July?

 

[herman]

If your goal is to see/photograph sea horses you are better off going to Roatan. Just spent a week in Coz and the DM found one med sized one all week. The last trip to Roatan it was not uncommon to see 3 to 5 large ones on each trip.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Or come to Sydney we have a couple sites where you pretty much have to be blind not to see 3 or 4. Last time we have overseas divers visiting us they said they wanted seahorses. I said sure we'll take you to see some. We geared up and they were saying "No way you can guarantee seahorses!" I said I would guarantee them seahorses on that dive. They were laughing at my assertions.. said "How are you gonna feel when we don't see any?" We splashed off the pier into 2 to 3 M of water... before we got half way to the bottom I signaled for them to come over to me and showed them two on the pylon in front of me I think they gave up counting them after a while. It was nice to show them a pair with the male doing his mating dance

 

[jlyle]

Tell the dive guide what you want to see and they will do their best to deliver. The sand flats inshore from Paradise seem to be the most consistent locations for seahorse, but we've also seen them deep at Palancar. Seahorses aren't common in Cozumel, but there are several species ranging from one to six inches in size.

 

[ColoDale]

We looked and looked this last trip and didn't find one. As said, we have seen them deeper in the past at Palancar, but have also seen them mostly in the shallower seagrass portions around Dalila and La Francesa. Occasionally around Punta Tunich. Never Cedral Pass. And not walls in my experience. Going on the hunt in the shallower flats in seagrass requires the whole group goes off to look. Bear in mind that becasue we haven't seen seahorses at some sites doesn't mean they can't be there.
Once the word gets around about a location then the seahorses will move (or hopefully not killed by a group of dive clods).
We always tell the DM what we would like to see (our boat is divers choice of sites).

 

[sharky60]

What range of sizes are there? Are they still there in July?

yes, you should be able to find them year round in Cozumel.

They like to hang out on those little algae things that look like umbrellas. Sometimes in the turtle grass in the "sand flats" beside the reefs, sometimes on the reef. Usually not deeper than 40-50' but I have seen them deeper. We found one on Palancar Gardens at nearly 100' once.

I have also found them on Cedral Pass in the flat areas that are covered with all kinds of growth.

most of the ones I've seen have been from around 2"-4" long.

They are not easy to find, and very easy to overlook. I've seen them in brown/black, orange and yellow as below.

this shot was taken on Villablanca Wall, probably in less than 60' of water.

 

[mstevens]

What range of sizes are there?

Newborn (which you'll likely never see, or at least recognize) to adult. You're primarily going to find adults. The most common species in the area is the Longsnout (not "Long-snouted", which is a different species) Seahorse, which as an adult is 5-6 inches / 17-18 cm (stretched out).

Are they still there in July?

They're non-migratory, so they'll be there. They also have limited ranges, so DM's often know roughly where to locate even specific individuals.

 

[gstrek]

Chankunaab in July, but it was the only one we saw.