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Tag: seahorse

Have you seen the horses under the sea?

KBP
| June 11, 2018
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| Research
Knysna Seahorse Project

Sometimes, we don’t realise the curiosities that could be found right at our doorstep, all you must do is look. If you ever find yourself around the Thesen Island Marina in Knysna, be sure to look out for a little boat chugging along with a couple of students and a pool net on board. They’re not there to scoop leaves out of the Marina, I’m afraid, but rather to look for an illusive little fish known as the Knysna seahorse (Hippocampus capensis). (more…)

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Keurbooms Seahorse Research Project

KBP
| June 11, 2018
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| Research
Keurbooms Seahorse Research Project

My past twenty years of research work at sea involved taking along bins of equipment -glassware, chemicals, oceanographic instruments, batteries and spares for everything. So, walking down to the Keurbooms Estuary for this month’s seahorse survey with all my sampling gear inside a small rucksack, feels minimalistic to say the least. The 50m Research vessel has now been replaced by a canoe, and with my family as crew we set off on an ebbing tide to search for Knysna seahorses, albeit in the Keurbooms Estuary. This is one of the few localities other than Knysna, that this endangered species calls home. (more…)

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Seahorses on your doorstep: an update on what we found!

KBP
| November 22, 2017
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| Research
A female Knysna seahorse

Codium tenue, an aquatic plant, has been found to be a suitable habitat for the Knysna seahorse within Thesen Islands Marina. This project aimed to assess and compare the density and sex structure of the Knysna seahorse within this habitat. Results were also compared to the 2016 assessment of this population. The study ran from March to August 2017 (6 months) at three sites within the marina and the density of seahorses was found to be similar across sites as well as over the six-month period. The overall average density of Hippocampus capensis was found to be 0.32 ± 0.02 seahorses per kilogram of Codium tenue. This density was found to be similar to surveys from 2016. (more…)

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Seahorses on your doorstep

KBP
| June 19, 2017
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| Research
Seahorse research by Knysna Basin Project

A curious, ancient looking creature grasps to its Codium anchor as sampling begins every month at low tide in the canals of Thesen Island Marina. This brownish-green resident is the Knysna seahorse (Hippocampus capensis), the only endangered seahorse in the world. This means as a student, and full-time ocean-lover, it is such an amazing experience to study these animals. We set off just before low tide hits in the Knysna Basin Project boat armed with a pool scoop-net, a scale and calipers. Spending around an hour sifting through scoops of Codium tenue (the free floating green-black macroaglae all over the canals) we eventually find a couple of shy individuals. Transferring the surprised animals into a container of water is step...

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