Dangers to Seahorses Habitat
The seahorse’s habitat in the wild is along the tropical coastlines within 25 degrees of the equator. Seahorses prefer to live in habitats where they have ample protection from predators in tall grasses, at roots of mangrove forests, or in coral reefs. There are, however, several threats to seahorses. Habitat depletion is one of the key reasons why officials may soon place some seahorse species on the endangered species list. As it stands, several species of the 30 types of seahorses are hovering close to this undesirable milestone.
Acidification
One of the central dangers to seahorses’ habitat is the increasing acidification of the oceans. The same industrial process of CO2 creation that that caused the acid rains of the 70’s also increases the acidity of the oceans through the increased levels of the hydrogen ion. This process lowers the levels of pH in the ocean and, as anyone who owns a tropical aquarium knows, if the pH level is not just right marine organisms start to die (including not only the seahorses themselves but also the seahorses’ habitat, the coral reefs).
Coral Bleaching
The sudden rise of sea levels and El Niño like conditions are two of the major destroyers of coral reefs. Coral bleaching is the sudden extinction of coral when temperatures suddenly rise. Scientists believe that the major cause of coral bleaching is global climate change caused by human industry.
Coral Mining
Subsistence miners and large industrial companies both mine coral itself in order to make building materials. Builders not only use coral as a form of limestone in construction, but also mix it with cement. This is because in some locations coral is half as cheap as the equivalent stones cut from quarries.
Eutrophication
Eutrophication is the process by which increased nutrients (such as nitrogen) cause sea grasses to become overly prolific, creating an excessive number of seaweeds that act as a canopy layer on the ocean surface, blocking out sunlight. Without the solar rays needed to help the sea grasses to grow, they die out and with them the seahorses that depend on their protection both for food and as a defense against predation.
Fishing Practices
One of the most harmful practices for seahorses comes from fishing practices, especially over fishing. Shrimp fishing, one of the main culprits, is thought responsible for the forty percent decrease in mangrove forests and much of the damage to coral reefs. This reduction in shrimp also deprives seahorses of one of their key sources of nutrition, brine shrimp. To a lesser extent, the widening of shipping lanes has also cut into many coral reefs and further damaged their overall health.
Not inconsiderable is the extent to which demand created by traditional Chinese medicine has resulted in the depletion of coral reefs and the direct fishing of seahorses. Many ingredients in Chinese medicine practices involve creatures found in the coral reefs, including seahorses themselves, and the increased popularity of this type of alternative medicine has had a negative effect on the preservation of coral.
Pollution
Of course, pollution into ocean waters is perhaps the major danger to seahorses. Habitat destruction as a result of pollution from industrial and city wastes has had a considerable effect on the health of the marine ecosystem. This goes beyond a marine disaster like that of the British Petroleum oilrig that suffered a catastrophic failing and leaked millions of barrels of crude in the Gulf of Mexico. Human waste in various forms (like the Texas sized garbage island that is floating out there in the middle of the ocean somewhere) has severely damaged the oceans’ ecosystems causing negative effects that we may not fully understand for years.
The seahorse is only one amazing species that may soon find itself threatened by the actions of the human species, but it may be yet another canary in the cool mine that is our ever warming world.