Our volunteer divers have been monitoring the seahorses at Studland Bay since the spring. The calm, clear conditions have not only led to regular sightings – but observations of elaborate seahorse courtship and pregnancies.
Studland’s seagrass meadows are home to spiny seahorses, and the occasional short-snouted seahorse, both protected under UK law. They are recorded and photographed as part of a long-running monitoring programme organised by the University of Southampton, with specialist licences held by The Seahorse Trust.
This summer, divers have watched the seahorses’ elegant courtship rituals, including colour changes, synchronised swimming and tail entwining. The divers have also seen several heavily pregnant males (pictured above), and one was even treated to a rare sighting of a seahorse giving birth. Seahorses are unique in the animal kingdom in that the female deposits her eggs into a pouch on the male who then broods them and gives birth. The male can give birth to as many as 1,000 fully-formed babies at a time, called fry.
Neil Garrick-Maidment, Director and Founder of The Seahorse Trust, said:
“To watch seahorses courting in the wild is one of nature’s great privileges. Their dances can last for days and are just one of the remarkable features of this extraordinary species. We can identify individuals through facial recognition – I observed one male with a huge brood pouch, then on the next dive it had gone, so he had obviously given birth. Monitoring them helps us better understand their lives and strengthens the case for protecting their habitat.”
Despite the recent sightings, it’s too early to say whether seahorse numbers are increasing in the bay. Divers are regularly observing around nine seahorses during surveys, but it’s too early to draw conclusions about the 2026 population trends. The annual figures won’t be available until the end of the diving season in autumn.
Not only rare, seahorses are also vulnerable creatures. While males can produce thousands of young, only a small proportion survive to adulthood. Many of the fry fall prey to bigger fish like wrasse and gobies. The species also depends on healthy seagrass meadows, which can be ripped up by traditional boat anchors.
For this reason, Studland Bay was designated as a Voluntary No Anchor Zone in 2021, and eco-moorings have been introduced to help protect the seagrass while still allowing boats to moor.
The monitoring dives involve around 40 volunteer divers, including university students and local recreational divers. The data they collect contributes to annual research report collated by the Studland Bay Marine Partnership.
Dr Ken Collins, Emeritus Research Fellow & Diving Officer at the University of Southampton, said:
“The seahorses may be the stars of the show, but they are also indicators of the wider health of the seagrass ecosystem. Our volunteer divers have contributed thousands of hours collecting information about the species and habitats found in Studland Bay. That long-term monitoring is helping us build an increasingly detailed understanding of how the bay is changing over time.”
Top image: Ken Collins
Video: The Seahorse Trust