Let’s Meet England’s Mysterious Seahorses
Seahorses look like tiny underwater dragons, yet they live in English waters right beneath busy coastlines. Most people don’t realise these rare animals face many threats, from lost habitats to careless rubbish on beaches.
Picture a creature that resembles a horse, but is actually a fish. It swims upright (but not well, so will hold onto seagrass or coral – or cotton buds if littered).
Seahorses have intestines, but no stomachs. Nor teeth. And when they meet their life partners, they perform a dance that lasts up to 9 hours. Then the female transfers her eggs over to the male, who carries them to term!
Spiny Seahorse & Short-snouted Seahorse
England is home to two species: the spiny seahorse (Hippocampus guttulatus) and the short-snouted seahorse (Hippocampus hippocampus). Both are rare and extremely shy.
The spiny seahorse, named for its prickly features, is bigger and often hides among seagrass beds and kelp. The short-snouted type sticks to shallow waters and is harder to spot. Both types have beautiful patterns and tails that curl tightly around seaweed or objects for safety.
Seagrass Beds, Kelp, and Rock Pools
Studland Bay has become England’s seahorse hotspot. The shallow, sheltered bay holds thick seagrass that gives seahorses a place to mate, hunt, and hide. Wildlife groups run careful surveys here every summer to check on the local population and the health of the seagrass. If you ever visit, keep an eye out, but never try to touch or disturb them.
The Thames Estuary is a surprising home for both seahorse species. Even close to urban London, seahorses adapt to the river’s tidal rhythm, grabbing at food carried in on the current.
Estuaries have:
- Sheltered shallows where young seahorses can grow safely
- Rich feeding areas full of plankton and small animals
- Weedy margins for hiding and resting
Other Underwater Hideouts: Kelp and Rock Pools
Seagrass and estuaries might be their favourite spots, but seahorses don’t put all their eggs in one basket. In some places, especially along rocky coasts, they take shelter in kelp forests or even deep rock pools.
Kelp forests are thick, swaying jungles under water. Their twisting fronds give seahorses shelter, while also supporting snails, crab, and fish. Rock pools, left behind as the tide slips out, might trap a seahorse or two darting between weed and sand.
Seahorse Courtship Dances and Birth
Seahorses have one of nature’s most charming courtship routines. A pair dance every morning during breeding season, changing colour and linking tails. Unlike any other fish, the male gets pregnant.
The female lays eggs in his brood pouch, and after a few weeks he gives birth, squirting out up to 200 tiny, perfectly formed seahorses. Babies drift away quickly, and only a few survive to adulthood.
Seahorses Are Poor Swimmers
Seahorses have tiny fins and swim upright. They’re actually weak swimmers and often get pushed about by currents. To avoid being swept away, they hold onto seagrass, kelp, or even rubbish in the water. Turbulence from boats or people wading around can easily put them in danger.
Beach Cleans: Simple Action, Huge Results
Every piece of litter cleared from a beach or estuary means a safer world for seahorses. Local clean-ups remove plastic, fishing line, and broken glass—things that put wildlife at risk. Even solo beach walks with a rubbish bag add up. The less plastic in the sea, the fewer problems for rare local creatures like seahorses.
Cotton buds can wipe out young seahorses and fill their homes with trash. Campaigns now urge everyone to pick up rubbish and switch to biodegradable alternatives.
How We Can All Help Seahorses
- Around 70 million seahorses are caught by the fishing trade each year, mostly from bottom trawling that drags large weighted nets across the ocean floor, catching all marine life in its path, and wrecking ocean habitats. If you eat fish, avoid fisheries that use by-catch methods.
- Seahorses are at great risk from boat anchors. Advanced mooring systems has developed an alternative to boat anchors that is safer for seagrass beds and marine wildlife.
- Seahorses tend to float in the sea and attach themselves to whatever they see. One photo went viral of a seahorse hanging on to a plastic cotton bud. This alerted the world, which is now why shops sell paper-based buds.
- More seahorses are caught to supply aquariums (where seahorses can die of shock from photography flash) and traditional medicine. The answers are simple: don’t visit aquariums or buy traditional medicine, if you don’t know the source.
- Don’t buy seahorses (or any seaside) souvenirs, often sold alongside shells and shark teeth. All of these ‘mementos’ cause death and harm to millions of creatures worldwide.
- As above, divers should not use flash photography around seahorses, as the stress can kill them within weeks. Never touch a seahorse (nor hover nearby).
Guardians of Britain’s Seahorses
The Seahorse Trust is our national charity with lots of ways on how to help including a page for divers (swimming nearby, photography etc). It runs surveys, restores seagrass, and pushes for better laws. The trust works with local dive clubs, schools, and even planners, encouraging them to think about seahorses before any coastal work starts.
A Book about Mysterious Seahorses
The Curious World of Seahorses is a book that looks at one of the ocean’s most charismatic and mysterious inhabitants. One marine biologist says ‘When God created the seahorse, he may have had one too many’.
Of all the ocean creatures, there are none more charming and strange than seahorses. Masters of disguise and graceful dancers, seahorses are found in seagrass meadows and mangroves, and have pouches like kangaroo, long snouts (like anteaters) and crowns as unique as fingerprints.
In this informative and entertaining book, science writer Till Hein shares the world of seahorses, revealing their secrets and biological features along to the medieval belief that they are descended from dragons.
This charming and fascinating book will captivate readers who wish to learn more about one of the planet’s most incredible creatures.
The slowest swimming, yet most effective hunters in the ocean? Check. Eyes that can move separately from each other, fin colour that changes on demand, and a digestive system with no stomach? Check.
A tail that is strong enough to latch onto an anchor, and withstand a predator’s grab? Check. This book is a treasure trove of everything about these remarkable creatures. Wendy Wasserman
