Why in news? Extensive fishing off the Coromandel coast could force the great seahorse to migrate laboriously toward Odisha.

Highlights

• There are 46 species of seahorses reported worldwide.
• The coastal ecosystems of India house nine out of 12 species found in the Indo-Pacific, one of the hotspots of seahorse populations that are distributed across diverse ecosystems such as sea grass, mangroves, macro algal beds, and coral reefs.
• These nine species are distributed along the coasts of eight States and five Union Territories from Gujarat to Odisha, apart from Lakshadweep and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• The population of the great seahorse, is declining due to its overexploitation for traditional Chinese medicines and as an ornamental fish, combined with general destructive fishing and fisheries.
• Despite the ban on fishing and trading activities on seahorses, clandestine fishing and trading still take place in India that creates immense pressure on the seahorse populations that have a high dependence on local habitats to maintain their extensive and long-life history traits.

Long migration

• Seahorses are poor swimmers but migrate by rafting clinging to floating substrata such as macro algae or plastic debris for dispersal by ocean currents to new habitats for successful maintenance of their population.
• The species is abundant off the Coromandel coast (Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu).

About Sea Horse

• Seahorses are mainly found in shallow tropical and temperate salt water throughout the world, from about 45°S to 45°N
• Colonies have been found in European waters such as the Thames Estuary
• Its IUCN status is vulnerable