Seahorses

Did you know that there are seahorses in British coastal waters? I didn't. But I read recently that conservationists are worried that the recent influx of visitors to the Dorset coast has placed its protected seahorses at risk.

There are apparently seahorses in The Shetland Isles and the west and south coasts of the UK. Well I'll be blowed.

Of course we Cornishmen (I'm interpreting that as living in the county) are used to regular sightings of sharks, dolphins and fin whales. I've never seen the basking sharks that are around our coasts, nor the fin whales. I did once see a pod of humpback whales on a memorable whale watching cruise from Brisbane, Australia.

There are in fact 43 species of seahorse. The big-bellied seahorse can reach up to 35 cm in length, while pygmy species are 2 cms or less. Which is remarkable; I'd love to see one of those. You can see pictures of them all at iseahorse.org. Dorset's seahorses are spiny seahorses, which are in the middle of the size range.

Like chameleons, seahorses have eyes which move independently of each other; useful I guess for spotting their live prey. And making sure no bigger predators can creep on them from behind.

I'm not really sure what Dorset visitors are doing to threaten the seahorses but...

please STOP!