A century of seahorses born at Blue Reef
Father's Day would have been a busy occasion at Blue Reef last weekend after more than 100 seahorses were born at the aquarium.
The tiny short-snouted seahorses, which are notoriously difficult to rear in captivity, were born as part of a nationwide breeding programme.
At the moment keepers at the Rock-a-Nore aquarium are having to feed them three times a day on live food and carry out daily water changes.
However, according to Blue Reef's Kate Buss, it is well worth the extra work. She said: "We are all absolutely delighted. It's particularly good news as no one is entirely sure of the short snouted seahorses' conservation status in the wild.
"Two years ago both the short-snouted and the spiny seahorses, which are both found around our coast, were listed under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981 because so little is known about their numbers.
"These babies were born from parents that were rescued after accidentally being caught by fishermen.
"At present we are keeping them in special nursery tanks in the aquarium's quarantine area. They will be planktonic and float around in the water column for around a month before settling down to a benthic lifestyle living on the bottom.
"The juveniles will remain behind the scenes while they need such specialist care but we will hope to display them once they are trained to accept frozen food."
It is the male seahorse that gives birth to the tiny replicas of himself after brooding eggs are passed to him by the female in a complicated courtship ritual.
Pregnancy lasts between two to four weeks during which time the male and female will continue to greet each other to reaffirm their bond. Seahorses are thought to pair for life.
Throughout the world seahorse numbers are in sharp decline due largely to pollution, loss of habitat and over-fishing.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Hastings
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: West
