An underwater discovery that is a delight for all divers, seahorses are sadly one of the most threatened creatures in the marine world. Adults range from minuscule pygmy seahorses to the one foot long Pacific Seahorse.
They live in both tropical and temperate waters amongst seagrasses, mangroves, corals and estuaries. Sadly, these environments are continually under threat by man-made activities and seahorse populations are in decline. Apart from the destruction to their habitats, thousands of live seahorses are collected for the aquarium trade and many more go to traditional Chinese medicines, some 200 million per year it is said. Unfortunately, seahorses are actually recognised by the World Health Organisation as providing a viable healthcare option.
The good news is that many small-scale seahorse conservation initiatives have been established that recognise the needs of communities that depend on seahorses for income and medicines. Projects in the Philippines and Vietnam have been experiencing initial success.