Hippocampus

The Hippocampus is a magical species distinguished by a horse’s head and forequarters joined to the tail and hindquarters of a giant fish. Its entry identifies Greece as its place of origin and the Mediterranean as its usual habitat, while a documented capture off Scotland shows that it can also occur beyond that customary range.

Description and Classification

The Hippocampus’s defining feature is its composite anatomy: the front half belongs to a horse, while the rear half belongs to a giant fish. The entry assigns the species an M.O.M. Classification of XXX, placing it within the Ministry’s five-level system for magical creatures. The classification accompanies a concise physical description rather than an account of its habits or temperament.

Range and Recorded Sighting

The species originates in Greece and is usually found in the Mediterranean. In 1949, merpeople caught a superb blue roan specimen off the coast of Scotland. The record gives the creature a specific coloration and a northern location well outside its stated usual range, making this encounter a notable instance of the species appearing beyond the Mediterranean. The passage does not specify what happened to the specimen after its capture.

Place in the Creature Catalogue

The account presents the Hippocampus through geographical and bodily particulars: a familiar land-animal forepart, an enormous fish’s hindquarters, and a range anchored in the Mediterranean. The Scottish capture broadens that picture without displacing the stated norm. As with the catalogue’s other creatures, the Ministry classification supplies an administrative label, but the available description does not explain the classification’s practical consequences for the species.