A precious seahorse finding

Over the past two years, more and more seahorses have been found along the German North Sea coast. As part of a citizen science project called 'On the tracks of seahorses in the Wadden Sea', the Thünen Institute for Marine Fisheries and its project partners (including the Oldenburg State Museum of Nature and Man and the WWF) are encouraging people to report dead seahorses they find and, where appropriate, to hand in the animals. They will then be added to the scientific collection of the State Museum of Nature and Man and will be available for further questions.

At the beginning of March 2023, a special meeting was held as part of the campaign. Mrs Johanna Bringmann gave us her 63-year-old (!) seahorse, which she found as a little girl on the island of Sylt in 1960. She has kept it as a treasure ever since, but now feels that it is in better hands with us. The seahorse is a precious finding as it shows that animals have been seen on our coasts in the past. We are very grateful to Mrs Bringmann and promise to always take good care of it.

Read more about the campaign here:

Our Thünen News article: Wanted! Seepferdchen gesucht

The WWF project website: "Auf den Spuren der Seepferdchen im Wattenmeer"

For questions about seahorses and the Citizen Science project, please contact  Dr. Hermann Neumann.