Seahorses, a species threatened by climate change, overfishing, and poaching, are facing increased danger due to the illegal capture of over sixty million specimens each year for traditional Asian medicine. According to Miquel Planas, a researcher from the Higher Council for Scientific Research, rising ocean temperatures caused by climate change are expected to push some seahorse species further north. Additionally, seahorses are sought after for their health benefits in traditional Chinese medicine, although the scientific validity of these claims varies.
Illegal captures of seahorses are carried out by mafias in areas with significant seahorse populations, such as Peru and southern Portugal. In Spain, specifically in Malaga, thousands of seahorses from illegal catches have been seized. Another major threat to seahorses is the destruction of their habitats, such as areas of macroalgae or marine plants like Posidonia or Zostera. These habitats are disappearing at an alarming rate worldwide, with the equivalent of a football field disappearing every half hour.
To protect the species, the NGO Oceánidas has launched the Save Little Big Seahorse project, which aims to conserve existing seahorse populations with the help of a network of over 2,000 marine watchers. The researcher emphasizes the need for continued research to identify seahorse locations, as there are still limited observations in the Cantabrian Sea, hindering species protection.
Currently, seahorses are not listed as threatened in Spain due to a lack of data and studies on their population and situation. However, their numbers have almost halved in the last fifty years. Spain is home to two seahorse species, the Hippocampus hippocampus and the Hippocampus guttulatus, while there are over 50 species worldwide.
Seahorses are unique in their reproductive behavior, with males taking care of the eggs and embryos. They live for about four to five years and lay around 350 eggs during each reproductive cycle. Another interesting fact about seahorses is that they are the only fish that swim vertically, which helps them camouflage in seagrass meadows and hide from predators.
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