Type localities, Lekuan II, Bunaken, North Sulawesi, MZB 13593 (holotype of Hippocampus pontohi, 1.69 cm SL, male); between Alung Banua and Cela Point, Bunaken, North Sulawesi, MZB 13594 (holotype of Hippocampus severnsi (1.66 cm SL, male collected in June, with approximately 11 embryos within its pouch) (Ref. 79848). Known from Bunaken, Wakatobi, Raja Ampat Islands, and Kawe I. (Ref. 79848), Siladen I., SE Siladen (in Ref. 118476), and West Papua (Ref. 90102). In Indonesia it has been recorded in association with a yellow coloured bryozoan, Catenicella sp., on different kinds of hydrozoans including Lytocarpus phoenicea, Antennellopsis integerrima and Halicordyle disticha (Müller, pers. comm.) as well as in sheltered spots on a reef wall in association with Halimeda (Brett, pers. comm.).