The underwater hotel highlights ongoing seahorse conservation efforts.

The Seahorse Care Team at Birch Aquarium at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography recently installed a “Seahorse Hotel” in the White’s Seahorse habitat. The new, artificial habitat provides a new type of sanctuary for seahorses and will amplify awareness about conservation.

Endemic to the east coast of Australia, White’s Seahorse are slow-moving fish that consume small crustaceans like amphipods, copepods and mysis shrimp, attaching themselves to nearby objects with their prehensile tails.

White’s Seahorse has suffered habitat loss from boat mooring installations, dragging anchors and excessive sand movement, resulting in the species’ listing as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

In Australia, several organizations have installed Seahorse Hotels in areas where natural habitats have been lost. Over time, these underwater hotels become covered in vibrant marine life, such as algae, sponges, coral and more, providing abundant shelter and food for the seahorses.

Since 2019, more than 200 hotels have been placed in lost habitat areas and hundreds of captive-bred seahorses have been released into these hotels to help restore wild populations.

Inspired by these ongoing habitat restoration projects in Australia, Birch’s “Seahorse Hotel” was created by the aquarium’s Seahorse Care Team and is on display in the White’s Seahorse habitat in the Seadragons & Seahorses exhibition.

The aquarium also offers daily seadragon talks where guests can learn more about Weedy Seadragons, a fascinating relative of seahorses.

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