🔄FROM THE ARCHIVE: Researchers are rushing to save a Bahamian pond critical to the understanding of seahorse ecology — as well as their evolution.
The first time biologist Heather Masonjones heard about the seahorses on Eleuthera Island, she had trouble believing in a place where seahorses were as common as other fish. After 29 years studying the animals, the University of Tampa seahorse expert had never seen more than a handful together underwater in her whole career.
The pond has been relatively protected from fishing, which may be one of the reasons seahorses are so abundant. Xiong Zhang, a seahorse researcher at the University of British Columbia not involved in Masonjones’ research, says bottom trawling in particular is one of the major threats to seahorses worldwide, because the nets can capture seahorses and destroy the substrate features they need to clasp onto.
But the clock may be ticking on this seahorse paradise. A few years back, a popular tourism website mentioned that the area was a great place to snorkel with seahorses, sparking fears among researchers that incoming visitors could destroy parts of the bony fish’s habitats. Masonjones and her colleagues began working with partners in the Bahamas National Trust to protect the pond.
Part of the reason seahorses are so rare outside of Sweetings Pond has to do with their ecology and habits. For starters, the fish need something solid on the substrate to clutch onto with their tails, as they aren’t particularly good swimmers . Sweetings Pond provides them with lots to cling to: vegetation, coral and bivalves, including Atlantic pearl oysters.
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