The Seahorse

These beautiful creatures are so intriguing and lovely! The Reedy Sea Dragon pictured here and it's cousin the Leafy Sea Dragon are close relatives of the Sea Horse. They move and act in much the same way, but spend more time floating in the water than attached to their favorite coral or sea kelp. These guys' camouflage is that they mimick the behavior of plant life, which includes floating around loosely in the ocean. At first glance, especially with the leafy sea dragons, it is difficult to tell they are not plants!

The most common ways seahorses are caught is from fishermen's by catch. This is the sea life not necessarily intended to catch, but that is saved and sold nonetheless. Fishermen who catch seahorses in their nets generally do so via a method called "bottom trawling". This not only brings up our endangered sea horses but other life important to their habitat such as the coral they live on and other vegetation which keeps them safe from predators.

Some breeds of Seahorses are protected through CITES (World Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).

We can ask our government to stop allowing bottom trawling, especially in coastal areas where there are coral reefs. We can ask our government to enforce the ban on keeping seahorses, and we can encourage people not to buy the health products which have made them popular, especially in China. Additionally, if you or your friends want to purchase a sea horse for your aquarium, do not support pet shops who sell wild caught sea horses. These are cheaper, but they are also more likely to die because of the stress of taking them from their natural marine habitat. It is up to us, the consumer to discourage sellers from catching them in the wild to sell as aquarium pets.