Seahorse Hotel Workshop at Tiana Bayside Facility

On July 15th, our Hampton Bays Stewards gathered to make another batch of seahorse hotels, at Tiana Bayside Facility. Lead by habitat and seahorse specialist, and marine educator, Kim Manzo, participants first learned about the biology, evolution, and environmental threats to our local seahorse population, and then built several structures designed to serve as usable habitat for this threatened species.

Eelgrass is the preferred habitat of our native seahorse species, the Northern Lined Seahorse (Hippocampus erectus). Seahorses evolved from pipefish-shaped ancestor, to have prehensile tails that allow them cling to eelgrass and other stable habitat structures. This is essential for their species’ survival, as it allows them to remain in their territory with their pair-bonded mate.

CCE is working to restore essential eelgrass meadows; however, rising water temperatures, harmful alga blooms, and nutrient pollution make restoration in some locations not feasible. This habitat decline has already impacted seahorse populations. In 2023, a seahorse was observed on an oyster cage tied to a dock in our Shelter Island Stewardship Site, inspiring a possible solution! To help address their habitat needs, we are working to deploy “Seahorse Hotels” to create stable, long-term habitat sites for seahorses to return to annually.

We are experimenting with multiple prototypes, using a combination of materials, including mesh and wire cages, that seahorses can wrap their tails around. These 3 dimensional structures will also support the growth of other habitat building organisms, like sponges and macro algae, providing even more usable habitat. After learning about what makes for suitable seahorse habitat, our workshop participants were given the option of taking a creative approach in designing their own hotels.

Kim Manzo was joined this summer by Hazel Wodehouse, Science and Engagement Manager, in monitoring some of our initial seahorse hotel deployments off of Cedar Beach in Southold. They documented extensive macroalgae growth, providing further usable habitat, and observed many juvenile sea bass utilizing the structures, and bay scallops nearby. No seahorses to report yet, but we are continuing to develop remote monitoring protocols using programmed GoPro cameras, and we will continue to be monitor throughout the summer and fall seahorse seasons.

Kim’s love and dedication for the seahorse population is what inspired these seahorse hotels, and thanks to her, Back to the Bays can inspire community members and stewards to help with this operation. It was a successful program, and we were excited to continue to make efforts helping our seahorse populations!

If you’d like to learn more about seahorses be sure to follow @backtothebays on social this month as our featured species for July will be, you guessed in, seahorses! And of course if you’d like to support this work we encourage you to consider contributing to our Seahorse Fund.

Thank you to our Hampton Bays Stewardship Site partners, supporters, and stewards!