Five juvenile weedy seadragons that hatched last year at Birch Aquarium at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla are making their public debut after living behind the scenes since their birth.
“This moment is years in the making,” said Birch associate curator Leslee Matsushige. “Everything we were hoping to happen happened. These seadragons show that the design of our display works!”
The five are from a group of more than 70 weedy seadragons that hatched at Birch after a first-of-its kind egg transfer in the public eye.
Only a handful of facilities have successfully hatched and reared the unique species of fish, which is related to seahorses and pipefish. Before this, the most successful egg transfer at Birch was in 2020, when five eggs were released and two of them hatched.
But that took place behind the scenes. The most recent event was the first time a seadragon laid eggs on the public side of the aquarium. Seadragon egg transfer has been documented only once in the wild and happens in captivity only a few times a year around the world.
The babies began hatching Feb. 26, 2023, and continued through March 2.
They were moved out of the public viewing tank, and behind the scenes, each juvenile was placed in a separate holding area where it was photographed for identification purposes.
Much like human fingerprints are one of a kind, seadragons exhibit distinctive characteristics. Different combinations of unique facial features, patterns and appendage shapes help the aquarium’s seadragon care team tell one from another.
The five juveniles now on view were transported to the Seadragons & Seahorses display, where guests can see them for the first time.
The aquarium believes all five are male, though that will be confirmed when they reach maturity at around 2 years old. They measured slightly over a half-inch upon hatching and have grown to about 9 inches long over the past year.
Some of Birch’s seadragons will remain there behind the scenes, while others will be moved to organizations accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to help ensure a sustainable population of seadragons in human care. ◆
