Conservation Yellow in Peril

While the demand for use in traditional Chinese medicine is putting seahorses under pressure, it is damaging non-selective fishing that is driving depletion

In Asia, seahorses are generally bought by men over the age of 50. Blended with herbs and boiled as a tea, they’re most often used to treat male sexual dysfunction, though they’re also said to relieve a broad range of ailments, including skin conditions, asthma, lethargy and menstrual cramps. That, of course, is according to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), but it goes without saying that there’s no scientific evidence to support the idea that ingesting seahorse boosts performance, improves your complexion or helps you breathe more easily.

Chinese medicine shops across the region are crammed with seahorses, selling for a few US dollars each. Large, pale and smooth-skinned seahorses tend to fetch higher prices, making species like the yellow seahorse extremely valuable to the TCM trade. Also known as the common seahorse, spotted seahorse, estuary seahorse and oceanic seahorse, Hippocampus kuda has no spines and is typically between 7 and 17 centimetres, on the large side for a seahorse. The body colouration is often yellow or yellowish, though it can also be brown or black, with numerous very fine dark spots.

The yellow seahorse could be called an Asian icon, as it inhabits waters from the Persian Gulf to Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands beyond, as far north as Japan and as far south as Australia. They are found in shallow waters of estuaries, lagoons, harbours, coastal zones, and seagrass beds. But experts say their numbers are dwindling. Their conservation status was first assessed nearly 30 years ago, with a 30-percent decline in numbers reported in 1989–99. They have appeared on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species as “Vulnerable” since, though the last species assessment was more than a decade ago, and there’s an urgent need for updated information.