Many people are happy, and patting themselves on the back after finding the first baby sea horse at one of the leading breeding colonies in Dorset.
The tiny fry, what you call a tiny baby seahorse, discovered at Studland Bay is 4 centimeters in length.
The Seahorse Trust has claimed that the seahorses are an endangered animal, as many boats and mooring chains are taking big hunks and tearing up the seabed.
The Marine Management Organization, a government entity, has said that although research has been ongoing into the subject, there was no conclusive evidence that mooring chains are a threat to seahorses.
The Seahorse Trust is pushing for the protection of these amazing animals under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, which came into existence in 2008.
“The trust and its volunteer divers have seen adults, pregnant males and juveniles on the site before but never a baby (fry),” a representative of the Seahorse Trust has commented.
“It does not mean they are thriving, quite the reverse, they appear to be hanging on in there against the odds of hundreds of boats dropping anchors and mooring chains ripping up the seabed, destroying their fragile home.”
The main goal of the Seahorse Trust is to get those nasty moorings replaced with more environmentally sound ones which do not damage seagrass, and for boat users to switch to these new devices.
Hopefully the discovery of this new baby seahorse will prompt some more interest in the issue, and something will be done to help protect these magnificent sea creatures.