For the first time ever a rare West African seahorse (Hippocampus algiricus) has been caught on camera. Kate West from Imperial College London has been in Senegal on a joint project with Project Seahorse and ZSL. During her investigations into the growing trade in seahorses from this part of the world, she spotted fishermen hauling up nets with several seahorses snagged in them. She persuaded them to release the seahorses – here is one of them, tumbling back down through the depths.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IshVr51poVc[/youtube]
It’s really worrying that research by Project Seahorse is showing an increase in the number of West African seahorses in the trade (they are used as an ingredient in Traditional Chinese Medicines) – perhaps as many as 600,000 a year now.
Find out more at the Project Seahorse website.
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