The global trade involves at least 20 million seahorses a year. European use of seahorses for medicines continued until at least the 18th century. Treatments including seahorses as ingredients are believed to benefit a range of conditions, including respiratory disorders such as asthma, sexual dysfunctions such as impotence, and general lethargy and pain. But seahorses are also used as aquarium fishes, curios, and even tonics. A comprehensive program of conservation measures needs to be implemented urgently if seahorses and the fisheries that depend upon them are to avoid a crisis.
Seahorses can be expensive.
Japanese consumers appear to pay the most for a much smaller seahorse. Seahorses have horse-like heads atop upright bodies, long tubular snouts and eyes that swivel independently. Among the approximately 150 recorded scientific names, there are probably only 35 true species. Some seahorses have yet to be named, and existing names are undergoing a major revision. Seahorses are caught by hand, scoop net or small seine, primarily by artisanal or subsistence fishers.