After almost 2 years the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) has successfully bread endangered yellow seahorses. In February 2010 the juvenile seahorses reached 1 year old marking the end of the NOI’s experiments and documenting success.

“Successful life cycle experiments of yellow seahorse will help to facilitate the development of small scale aquaculture farms by seahorse fisherman, as a viable alternative to capturing wild seahorses”‘, scientists at NOI state.

The NOI web site states the Hippocampus kusa (bleeker, 1852) is found in the tropical Indo-Pacific. Their native habitat typically consist of shallow, shoreline waters with mangroves, sea grasses and other plant life. The yellow seahorses are currently traded in 77 countries for Chinese medicine as well as the more obvious fish industry. It is estimated that 25 million seahorses are traded annually.