Conservation

Seahorses are fascinating creatures that have inspired and captured the imagination of mankind for countless generations. Despite their bizarre, almost mythical appearance, they are merely another species of bony fish and are found in almost every ocean of the world. The fascination that we have long held for these creatures has resulted in the increasing collection of seahorses for a variety of purposes.

Each year millions of seahorses are taken from our oceans for use in traditional medicines, as dried trinkets, for pets in the aquarium trade or as accidental “by catch” in some fisheries. This has lead to a demonstrated decline in the population of seahorses and become a great concern for conservation groups the world over.

Up until very recently, most of the seahorses sold in aquarium shops have been collected from the wild with little or no thought for conservation and large numbers were imported from overseas. In 2004 CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) listed seahorses on Appendix II effectively blocking international importation of seahorses into Australia. As a result, fishing pressure is now being applied to Australian seahorses to supply the aquarium trade. These seahorses have an extremely poor survival rate in home fish tanks for two main reasons.

Seahorses from the wild are only accustomed to eating food that is alive. In the same way that we ourselves would be loath to eat something wriggling on our dinner plate, wild caught seahorses are reluctant to say the least, to eat anything not moving. The lack of suitable live food results in seahorses that are captured from the wild starving to death in around 5 - 6 weeks. In addition, many of these Australian species are adapted to the cooler temperate water of southern Australia and simply don’t survive the warmer conditions that Australian home pet tanks offer.

Our tank bred seahorses will survive for a lifespan of 5 - 6 years as a result of conditioning to the frozen shrimp which is readily available in the pet industry. In addition, we only breed tropical seahorse species, which means they are much better adapted to warmer Australian conditions.

By purchasing a genuine cultured seahorse from a breeding facility, you are helping to decrease the collection of seahorses from the wild and therefore promoting the conservation of seahorses world wide.

How can you help?

Easy! We all often feel as if there is nothing that we can do as individuals to help to make a conservation difference. However we all have enormous power to make a difference with the consumer choices that we make. When buying a marine fish or visiting a marine fish pet shop - ask the question - where does this fish come from? Making the choice for cultured is making the choice for conservation.

Questions

If you have any questions about Seahorse conservation, please contact us using the form below.