A colony of Brazilian seahorses has arrived at a UK public aquarium from a captive-breeding programme in Ireland.
Bournemouth Oceanarium has recently taken delivery of a colony of Long-snouted seahorses, Hippocampus reidi, from the Seahorse Ireland captive-breeding programme, which already supplies a number of other public aquaria as well as some shops in the aquarium retail trade.
Oliver Buttling, a marine biologist at the Oceanarium said: "The Brazilian Long-snouted seahorse is one of the most beautiful species in the world, with amazingly vivid colourings ranging from red and yellow to orange.
"In the wild their range extends from the west coast of America down to Brazil, and fully grown they can reach lengths in excess of 20cm.
"We've also been breeding another type of seahorse, known as the sea pony, in our off-show breeding area and we're planning that, once they're big enough, they'll be able to join them in the new display."
Seahorse Ireland says its seahorses are protected with a vaccine developed by themselves following four years of research. It claims that the vaccine can protect seahorses from bacterial infections common in aquaria.
The project, which is supported by the Seahorse Trust and Project Seahorse, breeds several species of seahorse including: the Pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis; the Thorny seahorse, H. histrix; the Sea pony, H. fuscus; the Dwarf seahorse, H. zosterae; the Pacific seahorse, H. ingens and the Brazilian Long-snouted seahorse, H. reidi.