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Welcome!

                    Are you interested in seahorses? Do you want to know why their life is under threat?
          Or do you just want to study more about those incredible creatures?
          Anyway you are at the right place here. On my website I will tell you all about seahorses:
           their mentality, how avoiding eating shrimps will help them,  why are they under threat,
            how to help them and many more facts that you will find useful and interesting! 

Who am I?

              Maybe some of you, feel more confident in visiting websites, when you know who host them. Well, if that's your case
            I might a bit dissapoint you, because I am just a teen-girl,  my name is Anel, and I am from Kazakhstan.  The only sea we
             have here is Caspian sea, which is basicaly enormous lake; and I've never been there. Anyway, I've visited other seas.
             And I always had an interest in mysterious underwater world, and its habitants. I liked seahorses, because they seemed so
             cute to me! And after finding out about them more they got my interest even more, but the horrible thing is that they are
            endangered. So to help prevent this little fishes, I've decided to make a website which will raise awareness and suggest
            relevant solutions!

Seahorse Study

Seahorse's physiology

A lot of people don't think seahorses are truly fishes. And that's not surprising. Seahorses are so much different from other fishes in every way. They have a horse like head, a a prehensile tail like a monkey and independently mobile eyes like a chameleon. But still, they are fishes.

• Seahorses are one of the most unstudied species. There are 57 types of seahorses known now, and 30 of them are in the Red book.
• Seahorses swim vertically. They propel themselves with a small fin on their backs and steer with small pectoral fins on their heads, due to the lacked a gene associated with pelvic fins. Their fin can flutter up to 35 times per second. They have even smaller fins located near the back of their head and are used for steering.
• Seahorses' diet is carnivore. They mostly eat tiny fish and plankton. They don't have teeth so they attach themselfs with their tail to somekind of sea grass and coral and suck up food that drift by.Seahorses also have no stomac. Food pases through their digestive system so fast that they must eat almost constantly to stay alive.
• Their life spin can be from 1 to 5 years
• They mostly live in reefs
• Their size can be from 1.5 to 35 cm depending on species
• Although there not so many of underwater predators that would eat seahorses (because they are too bony and small) if there is one seahorses hide by imitatimg the colour of seaweeds.
• It is believed that seahorses evolved from pipefishes. Yeah, they don't seem to look like their closests relatives.
• Maybe the most shocking for you will be that seahorses are the only species where males get pregnant. When male seahorse gets pregn ant there is only two weeks between mating and parturition (birth). Male pregnancy gives female opportunity to make more eggs and so reproduce quicker. When mating, the female seahorse releases up to 50 eggs into a pouch on the male’s abdomen. The male seahorse carries the eggs in his pouch until they hatch, then releases fully formed, miniature seahorses into the water. As little as 5 or as many as 1,572 young can be born.

Seahorses' Mentality

There is other side that makes seahorses unique not only from the other fishes, but from many other living creatures on our planet.
 It is their feelings and emotions.

• Scientists concluded that the most species of seahorses are monogamous and they can stay together and reamain faithful for each other during several breeding seasons. While male seahorse is pregnant female visits him, holds his fin, they engage snout-on-snout kissing. The other thing uncluded in their daily greetings, and is not necessary to be during the pregnancy, is somekind of courtship dance in which they do pirouette and change colours for each other. This dance can last from a few minutes to 8 hours. All this proves that the most seahorses are mate for life and how feelings for each other i.e. fall in love.

Seahorses - Endangered species

I hope by now I've got your interest in seahorses. You see, I didn't provide extraordinary information here. My main purpose is to raise awareness about seahorses' extinction and to motivate more people take action. So, I would never reach my purpose if people here won't love seahorses as much as I do, that's why I put here facts that I considered would help you fall for that incredible creatures. I hope I chose the right facts, and now let's move on to the issue.

Why seahorses are under thread?

To take action about any issue we should know the causes of it. In seahorses' case there are several causes.

Due to the researchs that've been made 37 million seahorses are taken from shallow, lush coastal waters every year, mostly ensnared by indiscriminate fishing gear. Southeast Asia and West Africa are the main regions exporting them. More than half of captured seahorses end up dead, dried and sold internationally for use in traditional medicines (mostly in China). A small percent are plunked into home aquariums, or sold as kitschy souvenirs. Twelve seahorse species are listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, one step down from endangered. An additional 17 species are understudied, and listed as Data deficient, which means we don't know enough about them. Two are endangered.

• Fishing methods to catch seahorses also destroy their habitat. Seahorses aren't the best swimmers and if there is a storm they can suffocate and be brought to the land. That's why many seahorses are trying to stay at the same reef and not to go far away from their home. But among with the seahorse fishing, destroying their habitat also leads to seahorses' death.
• Chinese medicine. Hong Kong is the world's largest trading hub for the dried seahorses. According to Chinese medicine theory, seahorse is nourishing and gives the body more energy.Mixed with herbs and boiled as a tea, dried seahorses are most commonly used to treat asthma and male sexual dysfunction, including impotence and premature ejaculation.
• The accident catch. Most fishermen don’t set out to supply the traditional medicine market. They snare seahorses accidentally, using indiscriminate trawl nets, gill nets and crab traps, while angling for other creatures, said marine scientist Sarah Foster of the conservation group Project Seahorse.
• Illegal seahorses trade. In many places dried seahorses can be sold illegal. And they are bought for many reasons (making tea, etc).
• Shrimp farming. Shrimp farming has destroyed thousands of miles of coastal habitats around the world — particularly mangrove forests, which are nursery grounds to many species of fish, and home to many seahorses.
• Shrimp trawling. Trawlers sweep large nets along the ocean bottom, catching shrimp but also everything else in their path, tearing up the seafloor and delicate marine ecosystems in the process. About 2.2 million seahorses are caught in trawl nets every year.

Taking action!

Now, as we know the threads, we can take a look at the ways of solving issue.

• Donation. You can donate to the sahorse saving projects, communities, organizations. Donation can be made at: UBC (University of British Columbia) Project Seahorse, The seahorse trust.
• Citizen scientist. If seahorses can be found in your area you can become a citizen scientist by making observations, taking pictures of seahorses and helping identifying them. You can send your work, look at how others did their observations and study about it more here: iSeahorse.
• Recruit Other Citizen Scientists. Are your friends or family going on a seaside holiday? Do you belong to a dive club? Know some seahorse enthusiasts? You can encourage your friends to become a citizen scientists and spread the word about iSeahorse.
• Become A Seahorse Advocate In Your Community Or Region. If there seahorses in your area that being threatened due to the overfishing or other issues you can become a seahorse advocate by making a local petition to prote4ct seahorses, sending a note to radio, newspaper. Also you can contact your local politican.
• Avoid Eating Shrimps. In ...Seahorses - Endangered Species... section I mentioned how shrimp farming and shrimp trawling become a thread to seahorses, so simply by avoiding eating them you can make a change!
• Organize A Long-term Trends Monitoring Project. Are you interested in taking your citizen science to the next level by tracking a seahorse population over time? You can learn more about it here: iSeahorse.
• Join Or Contribute To Specialist Work Group like IUNC Seahorse, The seahorse trust.

Seahorse species

Common seahorse (Hippocampus kuda).
           Vulnerable.

Giant seahorse (Hippocampus ingens).
          Vulnerable.

Shorthead seahorse(Hippocampus
  breviceps). Least concern.

Shiho's seahorse(Hippocampus sindonis).
           Least concern.

Spiny seahorse (Hippocampus histrix).
    Vulnerable.

 Patagonian seahorse (Hippocampus
       patagonicus).Vulnerable.

Montebello seahorse (Hippocampus
      montebelloensis).

Three-spot seahorse (Hippocampus
       trimaculatus).Vulnerable.

Barbour's seahorse (Hippocampus
       barbouri).Vulnerable.

Bigbelly seahorse (Hippocampus
       abdominalis).Least concern.

Bullneck seahorse (Hippocampus
       minotaur). Data deficient.

Coleman's pygmy seahorse
 (Hippocampus colemani). Data deficient.

Crowned seahorse (Hippocampus
       coronatus). Data deficient.

Denise's pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus
        denise). Data deficient.

Collared seahorse (Hippocampus
        jugumus). Data deficient.

Dwarf thorny seahorse (Hippocampus
        pusillus). Data deficient.

Dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus
       zosterae). Least concern.

 False-eye seahorse (Hippocampus
        biocellatus).

Fisher's seahorse (Hippocampus
        fisheri). Least concern.

Giraffe seahorse (Hippocampus
       camelopardalis). Data deficient.

Great seahorse (Hippocampus
        kelloggi). Vulnerable.

Highcrown seahorse (Hippocampus
       procerus).

Japanese seahorse (Hippocampus
        mohnikei). Vulnerable.

Jayakar's seahorse (Hippocampus
       jayakari). Least concern.

Knysna seahorse (Hippocampus
       capensis). Endangred.

Kyonemichthys rumengani(Kyonemichthys
        rumengani). Least concern.

Lichtenstein's seahorse (Hippocampus
   lichtensteinii). Data deficient.

Lomg-snouted seahorse (Hippocampus
      guttulatus). Data deficient.

Longsnout seahorse (Hippocampus
        reidi). Near threatened.

Lined seahorse (Hippocampus
       erectus). Vulnerable.

Pipehorse (Amphelikturus
       dendriticus). Least concern.

 Pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus
        bargibanti). Data deficient.

Queensland seahorse (Hippocampus
        spinosissimus). Vulnerable.

Reunion seahorse (Hippocampus
        borboniensis). Data deficient.

Satomi's pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus
        satomiae). Data deficient.

Sea pony (Hippocampus fuscus).
       Vulnerable.

Severn’s pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus
        severnsi).

Short-snouted seahorse (Hippocampus
        hippocampus). Data deficient.

Softcoral seahorse (Hippocampus
        debelius). Data deficient.

Tiger tail seahorse (Hippocampus
        comes). Vulnerable.

Tyro seahorse (Hippocampus
        tyro). Data deficient.

Walea pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus
        waleananus). Data deficient.

Weedy seadragon (Phyllopteryx
        taeniolatus). Least concern.

West african seahorse (Hippocampus
        algiricus). Vulnerable.

West Australian seahorse (Hippocampus
        subelongatus). Data deficient.

Western spiny seahorse (Hippocampus
        angustus). Least concern.

White's seahorse (Hippocampus
        whitei). Endangered.

Winged seahorse (Hippocampus
        alatus). Vulnerable.

Zebra seahorse (Hippocampus
        zebra). Data deficient

 Weedy pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus
        pontohi). Least concern.