Hudson River's hidden treasure: Lined seahorses

NEW YORK (PIX11) -- The Hudson River is home to many unique aquatic species, but there is one tiny sea creature that often goes unnoticed.

If you search carefully, you may spot a lined seahorse, a native species of the Hudson River and much of the East Coast.

According to the Hudson River Park Trust, the lined seahorse (Hippocampus erectus) is a coastal marine fish that migrates into shallow brackish waters like the Lower Hudson Estuary. This allows them to have their young in the relative safety of the murky River.

As seahorses cannot live in fresh water, they can only be seen in the very low reaches of the Hudson River, including the Hudson River Park's Estuarine Sanctuary.

A spokesperson from the Hudson River Park Trust stated that the lined seahorse was first described by Western ichthyologists in 1810; however, it likely existed in the region long before humans settled there.