Strandingen van kortsnuitzeepaardjes aan de Nederlandse kust

Short-snouted seahorses washed ashore in the Netherlands Short-snouted seahorses (Hippocampus hippocampus) have been found on the Dutch beaches during the past two winters (2020-2021 & 2021- 2022). Particularly after storms, relatively large numbers of shortsnouted seahorses washed ashore, some even alive. Some of these live animals were brought in at the Ecomare Sea Aquarium on Texel and at Rotterdam Zoo. There is a lot of expertise at both locations for the successful captive care and rehabilitation of seahorses. These wild specimens were rehabilitated over winter and were released back into the sea in spring. For the increased number of short-snouted seahorses there are two possible explanations: (1) an observer e! ect and (2) the infl uence of climate change which may make the North Sea more suitable for this southern species. Short-snouted seahorses reach the northern limit of their distribution area in the North Sea, but due to climate change this limit is moving further north. This may lead to more short-snouted seahorses along the Dutch coast. In addition to an average warming, climate change also causes more extreme weather, in this case more storms. Seahorses are relatively poor swimmers and prefer to cling to algae and bryozoans by their tails. These stochastic weather events may lead to an increase of (fatel) landings. In de afgelopen twee winters zijn er op de Nederlandse stranden opvallend veel aangespoelde kortsnuitzeepaardjes gevonden. Vooral na stormen spoelen relatief hoge aantallen kortsnuitzeepaardjes aan, sommige zelfs levend. Een deel van deze levende dieren wordt binnengebracht bij het Zeeaquarium van Ecomare op Texel en bij Diergaarde Blijdorp te Rotterdam. Op beide locaties is veel expertise voor het succesvol houden van zeepaardjes tijdens de herstel- en winterperiode. Na deze periode worden ze in de lente weer teruggezet in zee.