Sydney Australia (Commonwealth Union)_Hundreds of White’s baby seahorses were released into Sydney Harbour in the world’s largest release of seahorses. In a bid to grow population numbers, the endemic species to Australia’s east coast was named endangered in the 2017 IUCN Red List due to pollution and habitat loss.
Scientists at the Sydney Institute of Marine Sciences captured three pregnant males from Chowder Bay earlier this year and raised their babies in captivity. The 380 babies – now teenagers – were released with tags to enable researchers to monitor growth and reproductive success in their natural habitat. In general, seahorses give birth to more than 100 babies each.
Diving onto the ocean floor with the seahorses in large plastic bags, scientists placed them into their habitat that included natural seagrass or as the scientists called it, an artificial seahorse hotel. This is the fifth time White’s seahorses have been bred in captivity and the expectations are that the seahorse population will thrive over the next twelve months.
For scientists, one of the greatest successes was the fact that seahorse babies survived the breeding process as the usual survival rate is 1 percent. The 90 percent survival rate was due to the temperatures being set above 23 degrees and a diet of brine shrimp. The marine research institute is also replanting the seahorse habitat with fish pods and seagrass. White’s seahorses are known to change colour depending on their environment and their mood.
