Summit County Citizens Voice

Tiny seahorse threatened by pollution, habitat loss. PHOTO COURTESY CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY.

SUMMIT COUNTY — Tiny seahorses that live in seagrass beds in the Gulf of Mexico, Florida and the Caribbean are rapidly vanishing because of pollution and habitat loss.

“Our country’s tiniest seahorse is just one of the many victims of ongoing pollution from the Gulf oil spill disaster,” said Tierra Curry, a conservation biologist at the Center for Biological Diversit and author of a petition that asks the federal government to list the creature as endangered.

“The dwarf seahorse now needs Endangered Species Act protection to have a fighting chance of survival,” Curry said.

The dwarf seahorse was declining even before the BP oil spill contaminated much of its remaining range. Oil pollution and dispersants used to break up oil are toxic to both seahorses and the seagrasses they need to survive.

“Oil spills like the one nearly a year ago in the Gulf of Mexico exact a long and terrible toll on marine life, especially species like the dwarf seahorse that have already been struggling to survive,” Curry said. “These kinds of catastrophic spills will continue to be a threat as long as our country continues to push for more and more offshore drilling.”

Since 1950 the state of Florida has lost more than half its seagrasses, with loss in some areas exceeding 90 percent. Seagrass loss has also been dramatic in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and the Bahamas. Because the dwarf seahorse is a habitat specialist, loss of seagrass equates directly to seahorse population declines.

The dwarf seahorse is the smallest of the four seahorse species found in the United States, and it is the third-smallest seahorse in the world. In addition to oil pollution, the seahorse’s seagrass habitat is threatened by declining water quality, damage from boat propellers and shrimp trawlers, and global climate change.

Seahorses are unique in that the males become pregnant and give birth to miniature versions of the adults. Seahorses form monogamous pair bonds, and partners meet each morning and perform a daily greeting ritual. Males wrestle with each other for access to mates, but once a pair bond is formed, seahorse couples ignore other seahorses. Dwarf seahorses live for only one year.

Filed under: biodiversity, BP Gulf oil spill, endangered species, Environment Tagged: | biodiversity, Environment, Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Seagrass, Seahorse, Summit County News, United States