Seahorse SeaCastle

The seahorse seacastle is where seahorses go to feel safe. They can go there to sleep or just to take a break. The seacastle is a welcoming environment for seahorses of all different kinds. They nap easy knowing they are safe within its protective walls.

Ahhh... a seacastle for a home!

Keeping an eye on Ken Kull

In a follow up to our previous story, Seahorses in Trouble, we've been trying to track down seahorse kidnapper Ken Kull. Here's what we've learned:

*Ken Kull definitely thinks he's the Seahorse King.

*Ken Kull thinks seahorses aren't endangered.

*Ken Kull fights tirelessly to prevent regulations that might protect the noble seahorse. Here's an example of where he didn't want bag limits to change:

Marine Life Species Workgroup Secret Report
Check page 17 where he complains that changes to the rules are too complicated! He just wants to devour the souls of more seahorses, which is what he does to them after he catches them. Stop his quest to consume the seahorse souls, and we can end his claim to the seahorse throne!

Seashell SeaScience!

Sea Shell Spirals

Today's story is about the cutting edge science being done with seashells. Understanding the gifts of the ocean is an important thing for us humans to be doing. Think of all the treasures from the sea! You should learn all about them!

Seahorse SeaFacts!

http://www.zimbio.com/Seahorse+Facts

This is somewhat related to the last article about SeaScience. This is a big list of facts that YOU should know about SEAHORSES!

Seahorse SeaScience

Link to the article:
Covert Creatures: The Clandestine Lives of Seahorses

Here's a lovely story about the science behind seahorses. Humans try to unravel the seahorse mystery. Can land dwellers ever understand the arcane power of the sea?

Dr. Helen Scales knows about as much as any dry person.

Generally what is agreed is that there are around 39 or 40 species of seahorses.

Seahorses are everywhere!

The chances are, if you go to a piece of coastline, and your toes aren’t completely freezing when you dip them in the sea, you might see a seahorse. They live along most of the coastlines.

They have this reputation for being this wonderful exotic creature but they do live all the way through the oceans.

They get pretty big.

The biggest is the Big-belly seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis) from Australia. They are a foot long from head to tail. The smallest ones are these pygmy seahorses [there are nine species], which can be just infinitesimally small, less than an inch. They would stretch out on a penny; they are really tiny. On average, most seahorse species are around two or three inches long.

Here are some more fun facts:

Seahorses have the honor of being the only fish in the seas that have a neck.

If you watch a seahorse, you’ll see that it puff its cheeks in and out. That’s it breathing.

You can come back to the same spot and, three years later, see the same seahorse sitting there.

It’s the men that get pregnant, not the girls. Seahorses are the only animal we have ever found throughout the animal kingdom in which this happens.

They will dance these beautiful, mesmerizing courtship dances together. They twine their tails and spin round and round while [both] he male and female change their skin to different colors.

Seahorses have skin, not scales. That’s another strange seahorse fact. Most fish have scales but seahorses just have skin.

Seahorses have VORTEX power!

Seahorse can line up that snout with a tiny minute shrimp and then all of a sudden it sucks in a vortex of water through its mouth with those big cheeks, and the shrimp comes with it, and before it knows it, it’s become a seahorse snack.

Despite all her book learning, Dr. Scales acknowledges that human learning fails to encompass the glory of the seahorse!

There’s so much we still don’t know about seahorses.

Go forth, and embrace the majesty of the horses of the sea!

The Noble Scottish People: Defenders of the Seahorse!

Scots law to back seahorses in race for survival

If the Scottish Government goes ahead with recommendations to add the species to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, killing or harming them would bring a maximum penalty of a £5,000 fine or a six-month prison sentence.

As you can see, Scotland is an ally of the Seahorse kingdom. The NSSAC warmly commends the noble Scots for their valiant efforts!

Seahorses in trouble!

The story:
Seahorses may be heading toward decline in Florida

The world's four dozen or so species of seahorse have had a rough time of the last few decades, as coastal development, international trade and commercial fishing took their toll.

The seahorse's admirable family values, particularly for a fish, make them especially vulnerable to fishing, said Curry, of the Center for Biological Diversity.

"They're monogamous at least for the breeding season, and if one gets kidnapped by a human the other isn't going to breed," she said.

There you have it, folks. And the people who STEAL the seahorses from the OCEAN?

"The dwarf seahorse is not endangered," said Ken Kull, a Big Pine Key commercial fisherman who calls himself the "Seahorse King" of the Keys and sells them for $2.50 or so to aquarium fish wholesalers. "One day I'll get 50, another day 250. If you need 100 dwarf seahorses, give me a week and I'll go and get them."

Ken Kull is NOT the seahorse king! The true seahorse king dwells in his underwater kingdom in the coral castle! His subjects salute him beneath the waves!
The NSSAC pledges to stop Ken Kull's bloody crusade of seahorse murder and slavery!