You’re swimming through the Giant Blue Hole, oxygen ticking down, and you see it. A tiny, pixelated flicker near some seaweed. You swing your net. Miss. You try again, and suddenly, you’ve bagged a Seahorse. At first, it feels like just another entry in the Marinca app, right? Wrong.
Dave the Diver seahorses are actually one of the most deceptively complex systems in the game. Most players think they’re just collectibles for a side quest, but if you aren't hunting the high-rank ones, you're basically leaving money—and racing glory—on the table. It’s not just about clicking a button. It’s about knowing exactly which depth creates the best spawns and why that 1-star Seahorse is actually garbage compared to the 4-star Crowned Seahorse you walked right past.
Let's get real for a second. The game doesn't explicitly tell you that these tiny creatures are the key to winning the Seahorse Racing minigame in the Sea People Village. You might spend hours trying to win with a basic species only to realize you’re bringing a tricycle to a Formula 1 race.
The Gear Problem: You Can't Just Grab Them
Here is the thing. You can't just pick these guys up with your hands. Dave is a big dude, and these are delicate creatures. You need the Bug Net.
I’ve seen so many people try to harpoon them or hit them with a shock rifle. Don't do that. You’ll just hurt them, and you won't get the capture. You get the Bug Net from Maki. She’s the little girl who shows up at Bancho Sushi with her father. You have to complete her specific quest—the one involving the White Trevally—to unlock the net. Once you have it, you just swim close and hit the interaction button. Simple? Sorta. But the timing can be tricky when a shark is trying to eat your face at the same time.
Where the Rarest Dave the Diver Seahorses Are Hiding
If you’re looking for the heavy hitters, you have to go deep. Or sometimes, you have to look behind things. The developers at MINTROCKET were pretty clever with their placement.
Take the Crowned Seahorse. It’s arguably one of the best in the game for racing. You aren't going to find it chilling in the shallows with the Blue Hole's jellyfish. You need to head to the Sea People Village. Specifically, go inside the houses. Check Tago’s house. Check the Chief’s residence. They blend into the background textures. It’s easy to miss them if you’re just rushing through to turn in a quest.
Then there is the Ruby Seahorse. This one is a nightmare. It only spawns in the Heat Vent area of the Deep Sea. You have to mine Ruby nodes. When you break the ore, there is a small chance—it’s honestly pretty low, so bring your patience—that a Ruby Seahorse will pop out. If you don't have your net ready, it’ll vanish. It’s frustrating. But the stats on that thing? Unbeatable.
Breaking Down the Species
- Pacific Seahorse: These are your "starter" horses. They are everywhere in the 0-50m range. Use them to learn the racing mechanics, but don't get attached.
- Bigbelly Seahorse: Usually found around 50-130m. They have decent stamina but they're slow. Kind of like a reliable old truck.
- Hedgehog Seahorse: Found in the Sunken Ship area. They look cool, but their stats are mid-tier at best.
- Zebra Seahorse: Look for these in the Stalactite Caves. The black and white stripes make them pop against the blue water, but they’re fast. You’ll need to be quick with the net.
The Secret to Winning Seahorse Racing
Okay, so you caught a bunch of Dave the Diver seahorses. Now what? You head to the Sea People Village and talk to Lamo. This is where the "hidden" game starts.
Every seahorse has stats: Speed, Acceleration, and Stamina.
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Speed is obvious. Acceleration helps you get off the line. Stamina is the big one. In a race, you have a boost meter. If you hold it down, your seahorse gets tired and slows to a crawl. You have to pulse the boost. It’s a rhythm game. If you have a Ruby Seahorse or a Giraffe Seahorse, you can be a lot more aggressive with the boosting.
Most people lose because they try to race with a 1-star or 2-star rank. You can see the rank in your inventory. Always check the stats before registering them for a race. If the stats are low, just sell the creature or use it for sushi (though honestly, the sushi yield for seahorses is pretty pathetic, so just sell them for gold).
The "Hidden" Ranks
Did you know there are actually variants? Not just species, but quality levels. You can catch two different Pacific Seahorses, and one might have a higher top speed than the other. It’s a bit like Pokémon IVs if you’re into that kind of grind. For the average player, it doesn't matter much. But if you’re trying to clear every single race in the village, you’ll eventually need to farm for a "high-roll" stat Seahorse.
Common Mistakes and Misconceptions
One thing that drives me crazy is when people say the spawns are totally random. They aren't. While there is a pool of possible locations, certain seahorses are hard-locked to specific biomes or objects.
For instance, you will almost never find a Leafy Seadragon (which counts in the same category for the Marinca) outside of the Seaweed/Kelp Forest area. If your map for the day didn't spawn the Kelp Forest, don't bother looking for it. Just finish your dive and try again the next morning.
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Also, the weather matters. Some players swear that stormy nights increase the spawn rate of rare creatures in the shallows. While the game's code is a bit opaque on this, anecdotal evidence from the community suggests that higher-tier "events" in the water often correlate with better seahorse spawns.
How to Optimize Your Hunt
If you want to be efficient, stop looking for seahorses as your primary goal. That’s a recipe for burnout. Instead, incorporate it into your "loop."
- Morning Dive: Hit the shallows. Look for the White Seahorse near the shipwrecks.
- Afternoon Dive: Go deep. Go to the Sea People Village first, check the houses for the Crowned Seahorse, then head into the vents for the Ruby.
- Night: Check the village again.
The most important thing is the Mining Trick. When you’re in the deep sea, always carry a pickaxe or the upgraded knife. Even if you don't need the ore, hit the vents. The Ruby Seahorse is a completionist's wall. You might get it on your first try, or it might take you twenty dives. That's just the RNG life in Dave the Diver.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Dive
Don't just swim around aimlessly. If you want to master the seahorse system, follow this sequence:
- Upgrade your Diving Suit immediately. You can't reach the best seahorses if you’re limited to 100 meters. You need to be able to hit the 200m+ mark comfortably.
- Prioritize the Bug Net quest. As soon as Maki appears, do whatever she wants. The net is arguably the most important tool for 100% completion.
- Clear the "Sea People" main quests. You can't access the racing registry until you've built enough trust with the village.
- Register your caught Seahorses at the event hall. Don't let them sit in your inventory. Once registered, they don't take up weight, and you can compare their stats side-by-side to see who your "champion" is.
- Check the "Tuffo" variants. There are specific seahorses like the Spiny Seahorse that only show up in the Glacial Area later in the game. If you haven't unlocked the cold-water suit, don't waste time looking for them yet.
The depth of this game is wild. What starts as a simple fishing sim turns into a horse-racing, restaurant-managing, ancient-civilization-saving epic. And honestly? Those little seahorses are the heart of the "extra" fun. They provide a break from the constant pressure of hunting giant sharks and offer a miniature goal that feels rewarding when you finally find that one rare specimen you've been chasing for a week.
Go get that Ruby Seahorse. It’s waiting behind a rock somewhere, and it’s going to make you the fastest racer the Sea People have ever seen.