An endangered White’s Seahorse was recently discovered near North Sydney Wharf during improvement works to the ferry stop and safely moved to a nearby location.
The White’s Seahorse is endemic to Eastern Australia but their numbers have significantly declined by up to 95% in some areas, prompting their listing as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
This is largely due to the loss of their natural habitat – to survive they need seagrasses, soft corals, sponges, gorgonians and algae, which provide them with food, a way to anchor using their tail, and camouflage as seahorses can change colour to blend in with their habitat.
The White’s Seahorse Conservation Project, a collaborative project between SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium, the NSW Department of Primary Industries, the University of Technology Sydney and the Sydney Institute of Marine Science has begun a captive-breeding program to help boost seahorse numbers.
Project Aquarist Mitchell Brennan, who raises the baby seahorses, said: “The novel breeding program has led to the release of 234 juvenile seahorses. This project is a world-first approach to seahorse conservation, and one of few marine conservation restocking programs globally.”
The Project has also created and installed 27 Seahorse Hotels - artificial cage-like structures providing habitat and protection to seahorses - at three sites in Sydney Harbour. The Seahorse Hotels accrue marine growth, including algaes and sponges, which provide the seahorses with protection and food in the form of small crustaceans that gather on or around the hotels.
To find out more about the White’s Seahorse Conservation Project, visit: www.seabnb.com.au