"Last year, when I heard that the 8th Indo-Pacific Fish Conference was to be held in Fremantle, West Australia, a plan for a grand science adventure began to take shape. This conference is held only once every 4 to 5 years, and if you are researching fish that are found in the Indian or Pacific oceans, which includes the most diverse coral reef ecosystems anywhere, this is the conference to attend. Since the founding of the Academy’s Seahorse Research & Conservation Program in the Fall of 2006, our group of students, research associates, and staff had made significant progress on using DNA sequence analysis to understand fundamental questions about the taxonomy, evolution, biogeography, and conservation of seahorses and their relatives, the sea dragons, pipehorses, and pipefish. So three of us set out to share our work with our colleagues, and learn from them as well."

A year later:

From the Log of David McGuire, Field Associate

Down but not out, we drive from Jurien Bay to Perth and enter the lower reaches of the Swan River, the major tributary that runs through this city of a million people. The team seines in the shallows of the river and a few sleek, green pipefish of the genus Stigmatopora are caught in the mesh nets, but no seahorses.

Undaunted, we relocate and in the waning light Healy and Norah snorkel the cool 60 degree water and find two Hippocampus subelongatus for a small fin clipping and camera cameo.

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In the clear waveless water of the Swan, the images of free-living sea horses are the first clear images I have captured in two weeks of searching. The images from this expedition, last years New Caledonia voyage and others will be used for the public floor at the California Academy of Sciences like the Science Now exhibit, web videos and an expedition documentary in progress. I’m a bit happier to collect clear images of sea horses in the wild but the over all effort has been discouraging: however that’s field science and nature filmmaking.

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The difficulty and the exertion in sampling and filming marine life is a unique challenge, at times exhilarating but also occasionally disappointing. Sea horses and their kin are being harvested intentionally for the aquarium and medicinal trades, and incidentally as bycatch in the shrimp and bottom trawl fisheries. Important habitat is also being diminished and many species are endangered worldwide. Aside from the wonder of exploring and explaining biodiversity, describing what animals live in a region and how they are related is essential information for wildlife management and resource protection. This is one of the important functions of Natural History Museums like the California Academy of Sciences. With new DNA sampling techniques very few animals are sacrificed for the collections and most are set free with a tiny bit of skin missing.

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Exempt from city lights the stars are infinite and the Southern Cross and Magellan Kite are clear among the myriads. There are so many stars that our evening beach walk is lit by the star shine of the Magellanic cloud.

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And then, the fish we have traveled so far to find; the endemic Festucalex scalaris. The pipefish gives me a look of indifference as if he is protected by a magical barrier. The camouflage this group of fishes wears is admirable. I am lucky to have paused over this particular bed of sea grass among the other densely covered bottom of Shark’s Bay. What a lucky find.

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