Absalom Shigwedha
13 November 2008
INCREASING developments in South Africa's Garden Route area are having a detrimental effect on the Knysna Seahorse (Hippocampus capensis).
Human activities that threaten the Knysna Seahorse are farming, property development and excavation in the estuaries.
Listed as the most threatened seahorse species in the world, the Knysna Seahorse is a protected species in South Africa and may only be collected with a permit.
The Knysna Seahorse is endemic to South Africa and has the smallest known geographic range of any seahorse.
A survey conducted by the Seahorse Research Group as part of the Green Trust-funded Knysna Seahorse Project found that the Knysna Seahorse is only found in three Southern Cape estuaries: The Knysna, Swartvlei and Keurboom estuaries.
This means that if these habitats are not wisely managed, South Africa's only seahorse species may be wiped out for good.
Conservationists say it is imperative that funding becomes available to continue monitoring these populations.
The Knysna Seahorse has been formally recognised as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) while nine other seahorse species are listed as vulnerable.
"Although it has a limited distribution in the estuary, their numbers fluctuate," says an online travel magazine, Encounter South Africa.
While specimens of up to 12 cm in length have been recorded, the average Knysna Seahorse is about 7 cm long.
They Knysna Seahorse is found in quiet water and among eelgrass, commonly seen along the length of the estuary, and algae which attaches itself to rubble on the substratum.
South Africa's famous Garden Route stretches from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth and offers scenic beaches, bush lakes, rivers, reserves and wild animals.
Seahorses should be preserved for ecological, biological, economic and medicinal reasons.
They are important predators on benthic organisms and removing them may well disrupt ecosystems.
Subsistence fishers in some countries get a substantial annual income from seahorses while many forms of traditional medicines employ seahorses to treat a range of conditions and ailments, some of them life-threatening.
Globally, seahorses are known as 'chameleons of the sea' because of their ability to change colour to blend in with their surroundings.
Although seahorses appear unusual, they are in fact true fishes with backbones, gills, swim bladders and fins.
The unusual arrangement of their fins make them slow swimmers and they rely on camouflage to escape detection by predators.
Enemies of the seahorse include crabs, larger fish and man.
All seahorses belong to a genus Hippocampus, from a Greek word for horse (hippos) and sea monster (campus) and all have similar breeding habits.
There are about 30 to 40 known species.
The largest is the Eastern Pacific Seahorse, which measures up to 40 cm, and the smallest is the New Caledonian Seahorse, which is only 15 mm long.
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