Yesterday, more than 140 baby White’s seahorses bred at Sea Life Sydney Aquarium were released into the wild in two Sydney Harbour locations. This mass release of small fry (no really, baby seahorses are called 'fry') is the latest step in a recovery project to save this threatened species, now in its second year.
The White’s seahorse, also known as the ‘Sydney seahorse’, is Australia’s only threatened seahorse species, with populations declining due to habitat loss and degradation of their harbour home. These delicate little slow swimmers (we’re not being rude, they really are known to be one of the most glacially paced critters in the ocean) were declared endangered in 2018.
In 2019, the aquarium built a dedicated seahorse breeding facility and together with the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Fisheries placed the first of 27 Seahorse Hotels in Sydney Harbour. The aquarium reports that these hotels, also known as ‘SeaBnBs’, have been successful in attracting and protecting the first release of aquarium-bred seahorse babies in 2020 and the even more significant release of more than 140 seahorses that ‘checked in’ this week.
Loss of habitat is one of the main threats to the White’s seahorse, which only lives off the east coast of Australia and can mainly be found in Port Stephens, Sydney Harbour and Port Hacking. The Sydney population can mainly be found on manmade swimming nets within the harbour, as they like to cling on with their little tails. But when these nets are periodically cleaned and repaired, the seahorses are further displaced. Those ‘SeaBnBs’ are designed to help the little guys hang out somewhere more protected.
It has been a hopeful week for threatened Aussie species. We just found out that platypuses will be reintroduced to the Royal National Park for the first time in 50 years, and NSW has an Australian-first ‘zero extinction’ target ,which gives new protections to almost 100 species.