An aquaculture and propagation specialist, she has helped rear everything from mahimahi to jellyfish. Seahorses have been featured in international news lately, their populations threatened by heavy harvesting for markets in traditional Asian medicines, curios, and the aquarium hobby trade. Seahorse reproductive biology puts them at risk to over harvesting, and several programs are now attempting to develop reliable rearing techniques that provide alternatives for collecting from the wild. The Stephen Birch Aquarium in San Diego is one institution involved in these propagation programs. Starting with food for the adults.
Seahorses are predators on small crustaceans.
Finding a reliable source of nutritious food was the first hurdle to overcome. The adults are now thriving on frozen mysid shrimp from Canada. Seahorse reproduction is next key. Then, in a pairing unlike most marine fishes, female seahorses deposit their eggs into a brood pouch on the males' abdomen where they are fertilized. The developing embryos spend one to three weeks in the protection of the pouch.