Diver spots rare seahorse off UK coast
Mark Parry saw the long snouted seahorse among the seagrass near Plymouth.
Published
Biologists have been treated to a sighting of a rare seahorse of the coast of the UK.
Mark Parry, a development officer with the Ocean Conservation Trust (OCT), was surveying seagrass near Plymouth in Devon when he spotted the long snouted seahorse, also known as a spiny seahorse.
Long snouted seahorses are native to UK waters, but their numbers have been in decline in part because of the destruction of seagrass.
The OCT has been working to restore seagrass meadows off the south-west coast of Great Britain, with the aim of protecting marine wildlife.
He added that in seven years and about 700 dives he had “never seen one of these animals”.
