What does it take to spot the world’s most endangered seahorse? Quite a bit of patience apparently, a good eye and when the seahorse in question is sighted carrying eggs, well that’s cause for celebration!
Marine researcher, volunteer coordinator at the Orca Foundation and conservationist, Melissa Nel posted some rare photos of a Knysna seahorse carrying eggs on her Instagram account, with the caption.
“We’re about to have some baby seahorses in the Keurbooms estuary!” Melissa confessed that it was a very special sighting for her, as it took a couple of years to spot her first Knysna seahorse hiding in the eelgrass of the estuary in Plettenberg Bay,” she says.
“The reproductive behaviour of seahorses is notable in that the male carries the fertilised eggs,” – which is what Melissa photographed. After an elaborate courtship, the female uses an ovipositor to place her eggs into the male’s brood pouch, where the eggs are later fertilised. This delicate species is notoriously difficult to spot with a standard length of up to only 12 cm and colouration strongly influenced by the surrounding environment.
The Knysna seahorse is endemic to the South African coastline and is actually only known to be found in three estuaries in the world: Keurbooms, Knysna and the Swartvlei system in Sedgefield.
Interest in the marine life of the Keurbooms Estuary proved to be tremendous at last year’s Marine Science Symposium during the Plett Ocean Festival where Melissa’s colleague, Dr. Chantel Elston presented an impressive and well-received talk: “What lives in the Keurbooms Estuary?” The festival and marine science symposium will take place again this year in Plettenberg Bay from 30 June – 9 July 2023.
The limited range of the Knysna seahorse does put it at risk of extinction, and conservation plays a very important role. In fact, in the Keurbooms Estuary, a period of strong river flow may even have resulted in temporary extinction of this beautiful species in that location. Thankfully, the seahorse was found again in the estuary during more recent surveys conducted by the ORCA Foundation, with indications that the population diminished due to floods in 2007 and 2011.
