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Help our Seahorse to survive

Diving off Pulau Redang is not very well known to many divers yet. Where is Pulau Redang one might ask? A few Dive Magazines since last year have written about Redang which is off the coast of Terengganu in Peninsular Malaysia. The diving season there is from the months of March to September.

Most divers are not aware that Redang has twenty over diving spots with a vivid variety of colourful hard and soft corals which is home to the myriads of coral fishes of all sizes, colours and shapes. Amazingly, the coral fishes appear to be increasing in species and numbers after each season in this their habitat among the beautiful corals.

Just to introduce myself, I am A.B.Lee, and I have been diving actively in the waters of Redang for the last 16 years. My career as a dive instructor as well as the dive operator at Redangkalong Resort, has taken me to many undersea adventures to observe the beauty of the exotic world below. Just like any other diver, I have always longed to see a seahorse which is extremely rare in Redang.

That day in one of my many dives finally came and my first sight of a seahorse was both unbelievable and breathtaking, more especially in the waters of our home ground or at our very own backyard so to speak. But from joy it turned to disappointment when I discovered that the seahorse was dead with its eyes plucked out. Together with my other friends, we could not believe that this was the only seahorse around and we began to search in earnest. Our patience was rewarded when we spied another seahorse very much alive, floating majestically among the corals. We were indeed overwhelmed with joy at this shy and mystical creature.

Being an avid undersea photographer I hastened to take many pictures with the
objective of recording this first encounter and at the same time to determine its species in order to research into their life cycle and help them to survive in these waters in whatever way we can. We wrote to the Project Seahorse, and according to their panel of scientific researchers, there are 35 species of seahorses and the one found in the Redang waters is a very rare specie but unfortunately they do not have much data on it. The scientific name of this particular specie is “Hippocampus Spinosissimus”. They are red in colour with white strip and length of about 6 to 7 inches.

A few days later on my return to the spot, the seahorse seemed to have vanished. I searched the waters daily for almost a week and finally found it in a different location. I then realised that the seahorse in order to survive live among the seagrass that hover around and move with the current, or in shallow ground with the action of waves. Research has shown that because this specie of seagrass does not root itself onto the sandy ground but floats with the currents and as a consequence it has become a main threat to the seahorses’ survival by being washed together ashore to their destruction by the action of the waves.

To ensure the seahorse’s survival we went back, this time with a few 3 X 2 feet plastic nets with the aim of providing a more secure home environment for them. We then secure the nets with 1 inch rounded bamboo sticks over the seagrass, to prevent them from moving with the currents, while at the same time providing a camouflaged habitat for the seahorses which also serves as a source for food and protection from predators.
To find out the fruits of our labour, we went out the following day and to our amazement we found one of the seahorses clinging on and loving the bamboo. Not only that, the little creature had brought along its two other friends! Now instead of one seahorse there were three! It was indeed a beautiful and most encouraging sight.

We began monitoring these lovely sea creatures and after about ten days, we noticed that one of the seahorses’ belly was bigger than usual and appeared to be moving in an off balanced manner. Judging from its condition we concluded after referring to data that the seahorse was indeed pregnant. After 14 days the seahorse’s belly appeared normal, and obvious sign that it has given birth. We searched for the infants but to our dismay we found none. We went back and designed a cage to protect the infants and place the cage at the spot, just incase they were around. This was the best we could do for their survival. Meanwhile a few days later the same thing happened to the other seahorse but still no baby seahorses could be found.

Now that the monsoon has arrived, our hopes of the artificial homes that we have provided will help them survive in greater numbers against the harshness and onslaught of the monsoons. The fulfilment of our hopes will only be known next March.

This write up serves as a plea for any information from anyone in the know, to help in the survival of these beautiful and elegant creatures. Any iInformation or help in whatever form will be greatly appreciated.

We can reached via email at www.redangkalong.com or ddenmsia@tm.net.my
or contact numbers 03-2094 2693