Save the seahorses, save the world!
April 5, 2009 2:09 PM Subscribe
They're sold
embedded in plastic as paperweights,
dried as curios and used as decorations for tourist trinkets. But the seahorse, so little researched that
we don't even fully understand its taxonomy and
only found out how it reproduces in 2007, is threatened, and so are its habitats. No one's really sure how many are left (they're still being found in new and unusual places like
the Thames, and
new species are frequently discovered), but marine biologists are sure there's far fewer than there used to be. (It's not all depressing - there's cute video and bizarre mating rituals and birth processes, as well as lots of information inside.)
Environmentalists
from Britain to
Canada to
Hawaii to
Singapore are working to protect the threatened seahorse, but
seahorses by the thousands are still being smuggled in to the US to be used as aphrodisiacs, aquarium additions or room decor, and are now rarely seen in the wild. American University has
a sobering overview of the seahorse trade; over the years, the takes of seahorses are getting smaller, as are the seahorses that are taken. It's no wonder they're now so rarely seen in the wild.
And that's a shame, because they are seriously funky, weird and fascinating creatures. Their mating dances are beautiful and romantic (a href="
video); they actually twine their tails together during the courting process. Their sexual roles are reversed by human standards; the female seahorse (cover your eyes, kids!) inserts an ovipositor into the male's brood pouch during the sex act, and if all goes well this impregnates the male. Male seahorses give birth, sometimes with a flurry of fry, other times looking like something out of Alien. Most female seahorses aren't the love 'em and leave 'em type, though; even in non-reproductive seasons, seahorse couples meet up in "their spot" daily to perform little romantic courtship rituals.
Scientific organizations are working hard to close the knowledge gap. The Seahorse Sleuth program sponsored by the University of Auckland, University of Papau New Guinea, McGill University, and the South Australian Museum endeavors to identify seahorses (including previously unknown species) using their DNA.
Several organizations are working to make the public aware of the issues surrounding seahorses. Dr. Amanda Vincent, the world's leading expert in the creatures, founded Project Seahorse to save them. The Monterey Bay Aquarium is opening a huge exhibit about the seahorses, featuring seahorses and related species such as pipehorses and leafy sea dragons (video here and here). By saving seahorses, we can also save the most threatened bits of our oceans. To transmute a phrase from Heroes, "Save the seahorses, save the world!" 
I love seahorses.
posted by Elmore at 2:27 PM on April 5, 2009