 Another recent find of a seahorse on the strandline at Worbarrow Bay has fuelled the theory that these threatened species are in fact living in or near the Purbeck Marine Wildlife Reserve.
There area two types of seahorses found along the coast of the British Isles. The short-snouted seahorse (Hippocampus hippocampus) and the spiny seahorse (Hippocampus guttulatus). They are found in shallow waters, estuaries amongst seaweed and sea grasses, rocky shores and even rockpools!
Seahorses have a very distinctive shape with an angled head, short body with a curled prehensile tail used to secure themselves to seaweeds. Seahorses have excellent eyesight and two eyes that move independently of each other. This allows them to hunt their small prey such as small shrimps. Adults feed 30 to 50 times a day, whereas juvenilles eat a staggering 3000 times a day.
This species of fish mate for life, the female swims to the males' territory first thing in the morning and the pair perform a courtship dance for about an hour. When it comes to mating the female seahorse lays her eggs into the males pouch where he incubates them and gives birth through which he even has contractions; similar to a female mammal.
The population of seahorses around the British Isles is unknown. To resolve this, a survey is currently being undertaken by The Seahorse Trust and is recording any findings of British seahorses at the following website www.britishseahorsesurvey.org. | 
