Meanderings: Seahorse World, Beauty Point, Tasmania

Before we left Queenscliff several people told us to visit the Seahorses! We finally made it there on 19th March and we were not disappointed. It was amazing, way better than we'd expected!

At Seahorse World they raise 1000s of several different types of seahorses for selling to private collectors & aquariums (including Monterey Bay which we visited years ago) around the world. Seahorse World was the world's first seahorse farm, nowadays there are a few others, most of which have been developed along similar lines using Seahorse World as a model.


1000s of baby seahorses

We were taken on a guided tour where they showed us tanks where the baby seahorses grew from the size of just a few millimetres to full size. There were about 2000 seahorses in each tank. It takes about 6 - 12 months for seahorses to mature.

Seahorse Nursery

Dancing Potbelly Seahorses

We learnt a bit about Pot Belly Seahorses. The males make the most of their pot bellies and dance around showing off to the females trying to attract a mate. It seems a good pot belly is attractive to a female seahorse. The female puts her eggs in the male's pot belly and the dad carries them to term. Once the babies are ready to be born dad releases them and the tank gets trillions of tiny little seahorses.

As well as the seahorses they also had several other animals from the Southern Ocean. Many of which we got to hold. These included: seahorses, sea cucumbers, hermit crabs, and very spikey sea urchins (kina) , but thankfully NOT the giant crab or shark!

Evelyn holding the Hermit Crab


Arthur checking out the shark

All of the creatures were amazing to study and we could've stayed much longer. I was particularly taken with the Leafy Seadragons, which were incredibly beautiful. As they have not yet managed to get them to breed in captivity they were not available for private collectors.


Leafy Seadragon

If you ever visit Beauty Point, or even Launceston, it is definitely worth a visit! 12 out of 10! I've awarded extra points for helping us dry our coats hanging them in their office while we were on the tour and answering ALL our questions!

You can learn more here http://www.seahorseworld.com.au