The seahorse is about the most bizarre fish that is native to Hawaiian waters. They are seldom seen because most seahorses throughout the Pacific Ocean live in calm water and due to the lack of outside barrier reefs here in Hawai‘i we do not have a lot of calm water. Over a period of 10 years diving every week, I have only seen three of these eight-inch-long fish — one yellow, one brown and one black. We have several seahorse species here in Hawai‘i, but the smooth seahorse is the most-common, and it lacks spines on its skin.