Breeding boost for rare seahorses
The spotted seahorse is on a list of endangered species
More than 100 baby seashorses have been born at a Cheshire aquarium that is working to protect threatened species.
The youngsters, which measure less than a centimetre in length, are known as spotted seahorses and will eventually grow to a length of nearly 20cm.
The creatures are part of the ongoing captive breeding programme at Blue Planet Aquarium in Cheshire Oaks.
The young seahorses are being kept in special nursery tanks and will go on public display in a few weeks’ time.
Special brood pouch
Blue Planet’s Tom Cornwell said: “We have now had three separate batches of seahorses born here in recent weeks and all are doing extremely well.
“We’ve got well over 100 individuals ranging in size from tiny newborns to little babies and the good news is that they are all beginning to take powdered food.
“We’re also keeping a very close eye on things as it’s possible that some of the other adult males may also be about to give birth,” he added.
The seahorse is unique in the animal kingdom in that it is the male rather than the female which carries the babies and gives birth to them via a special brood pouch on their stomach.
The female seahorse lays her eggs in the male’s pouch. He then fertilises them and incubates them until they are ready to emerge.
Found throughout south east Asia, Australia, Japan and Hawaii, the spotted seahorse is officially listed as vulnerable in the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) red list of threatened species.
In the wild virtually all of the approximate 35 species of seahorse are under threat from a variety of sources.
These include loss of habitat, pollution, the souvenir trade and traditional Far East medicine – believed to account for the deaths of more than 20 million seahorses annually.