Salcombe-Kingsbridge estuary is the last place you would expect to see the very tropical looking Seahorse but it is home to at least two species. The British Seahorse Survey run by The Seahorse Trust has been working in partnership with Salcombe Harbour looking into where and how many types of Seahorse are found in the estuary.
The quality of the water, the aquatic habitat and particularly the eelgrass beds here have ensured that the Salcombe-Kingsbridge estuary is one of the hot spots for seahorses along the South Coast. The eelgrass beds, especially those near the mouth of the estuary are in pristine condition and home to a wide variety of species. It is the spiny seahorse Hippocampus guttulatus that has been seen in the estuary, although it is possible that the other species, the short snouted seahorse Hippocampus hippocampus lives here too. The spiny seahorse is quite a large fish and can grow up to 18cm from the top of the head to the end of their prehensile tail. Like all seahorses they can grow appendages on their bodies to help camouflage themselves so that they are well adapted to life in the estuary’ s eelgrass beds - they can also change colour to match their surroundings and are usually found as a dark olive green, which underwater makes them almost impossible to find.
The lives of British seahorses have been shrouded in mystery for a long time; in fact it took a long time to convince people that the seahorses here were actually native to our shores and not just occasional visitors. This lack of information led in 1994 to The Seahorse Trust setting up the British Seahorse Survey, designed to learn everything we can about our very secretive, enigmatic seahorses. We now know that both species migrate into deeper water (up to 80m) during the winter to overcome the ferocity of the winter storms and come into shallower water in the spring, summer and autumn to breed.
With all seahorses it is the male that gets pregnant and has the babies. This is unique in the animal world, the only true male pregnancy where he feeds and provides all their needs through the placenta. Every morning the male and female meet to take part in an elaborate courtship dance where the male shimmers and spirals around the female. If the male is not pregnant they will turn towards each other and the female will then deposit the eggs into the males brood pouch, they then break away and the female swims off having nothing else to do with the pregnancy. The male drops to the seabed and with a great deal of wiggling he embeds the eggs into the lining of the pouch as he fertilises them. The male gives birth, after a gestation period of 28 days, following contractions that can be up to 12 hours long - 24 to 48 hours later he will be pregnant again!
If you do see a seahorse in the estuary or anywhere around the British Isles, we would like to hear from you, please either contact Nigel Mortimer at South Hams District Council 01803-861465 or report your sighting on the British Seahorse Survey website www.britishseahorsesurvey.org.
