''Pegasus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of seamoths found in coastal

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

marine waters. The name was taken from the winged horse

Pegasus Pegasus (; ) is a winged horse in Greek mythology, usually depicted as a white stallion. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus was the brother of Chrysaor, both born from Medusa's blood w ...

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

. The member species are distributed in the Indo-West Pacific Ocean waters around:

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

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Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

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and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Species

There are currently 5 recognized species in this genus: * '' Pegasus lancifer'' Kaup, 1861 (Sculptured seamoth) * '' Pegasus laternarius'' G. Cuvier, 1816 (Brick seamoth) * '' Pegasus volitans''

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, 1758 (Long-tail seamoth) * '' Pegasus tetrabelos'' Osterhage, Pogonoski, Appleyard & W. T. White, 2016 (Short-spined seamoth) .Osterhage, D., Pogonoski, J.J., Appleyard, S.A. & White, W.T. (2016): Integrated Taxonomy Reveals Hidden Diversity in Northern Australian Fishes: A New Species of Seamoth (Genus ''Pegasus''). ''PLoS ONE, 11 (3): e0149415.'' * '' Pegasus sinensis'' Ying-Yi Zhang, Rong-Rong Zhang, Shao-Bo Ma, Shuai-Shuai Liu, Qiang Lin and Xin Wang], 2022 (Chinese seamoth)

References

Pegasus (fish), Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Syngnathiformes-stub