by Tami Weiss | Jan 7, 2016 | Conservation, Fish, Opinion, Reef, Science, Seahorses
Dwarf Seahorses among Galaxaura subverticillata, one of the macroalgaes they associate with in the wild. 2016 will see wild Dwarf Seahorse Hippocampus zosterae gain new protections in the waters around Florida. These regulations are designed to limit their harvest from the wild in order to sustainably manage Dwarf Seahorse populations. The proposed regulations: Recreational bag limit: reduce the current limit of five (5) of each species of seahorse (within the 20 organism aggregate bag limit for all Marine Life species) to five (5) seahorses total per person per day Commercial trip limit: reduce the current daily commercial limit from 400 dwarf seahorses to 200 per person or per vessel (whichever is less) Establish an annual commercial quota of 25,000 individual dwarf seahorses and provide for closure of the recreational and by Fused Jaw | Nov 30, 2015 | Conservation, Fish, Reef, Science, Seahorses
Seahorse mid strike; hyoid bone visible which is part of the complex musculoskeletal system seahorses utilize in suction feeding. This can be damaged easily. Photo by Tami Weiss You may have heard of ‘weak snick’, a common description of a clinical sign in syngnathids whereby attempts to feed appear weakened, that is, they don’t produce the nice ‘click’ sound you like to hear when healthy syngnathids strike at their prey. Multiple causes have been attributed to this particular clinical sign however in some severe progressive cases; this has been suspected to be due to a nutritional myopathy, which simply means a muscle disease caused by a nutritional imbalance. The suspected nutritional myopathy can present in many ways including: lethargy, weak snick, inappetence, and in severe unresolved cases, by Tami Weiss | Nov 29, 2015 | Conservation, Seahorses
Seahorses can be found along many shorelines frequented by people. Photo by Caio R. N. Periera cc-by/nc So you’ve found a seahorse, and you want to keep it. Or maybe you stumbled across one washed ashore, and are unsure what to do next. This question comes up from time to time. It’s not frequent, but it does happen enough that I wanted to provide some guidance. Release It! The best thing to do is to release the seahorse back where you found it, if at all possible. The sooner you can do this, the better off the seahorse will be. This is especially true for those found washed up on the beach, as can happen from time to time due to seahorse’s poor swimming abilities. by Fused Jaw | Sep 10, 2015 | Fish, Science, Seahorses, Tanks
Occasionally a seahorse hobbyist runs into a situation where a freshwater (FW) dip is indicated. A FW Dip can be used as both a therapeutic and a diagnostic tool. As a therapeutic tool it can help rid the seahorse of ectoparasites on the body, in the oral cavity, as well as in the gills. As a diagnostic tool, observation during the dip will give you a good idea if there is a parasitic load or not. It can also be done prophylactically on new arrivals from suspect sources, on wild caught (WC) specimens or when a tank mate has had known parasitic load. We have been doing FW Dips for over 11 years. We have found that every species we have encountered has handled FW Dips just fine by Tami Weiss | Aug 4, 2015 | Fish, Science, Seahorses
Left, Tiger Tail seahorse from MaryG, right Dwarf Seahorse, photo by Felicia McCaulley Regular readers of FusedJaw.com are aware of my concern over juvenile seahorses being sold far too small and young. It came to my attention recently that sometimes very young juveniles of larger seahorse species are being sold as Dwarf Seahorses Hippocampus zosterae due to the exceptionally small size they are being sold at. This issue came to light by way of the our forum member Maryg. She asked to confirm the species of a couple seahorses sold through her local fish store as dwarf seahorses. The seahorses in question were in fact juvenile Tiger Tail Seahorses Hippocampus comes
