Seahorses are threatened by the wild-capture trade for traditional medicine and aquariums, while captive husbandry presents specific challenges that cause high mortality without specialized care.
Seahorses captured for the traditional medicine trade die during transport, storage, or drying processes that cause significant suffering. Aquarium trade seahorses face capture stress, prolonged transport, and adjustment to captive conditions with specialized food and water requirements that most aquarists cannot provide. The monogamous bond between seahorse pairs means that capture of one individual leaves the other without a partner, disrupting reproduction and causing behavioral changes consistent with distress. High mortality in aquarium seahorses is a welfare problem often invisible to consumers who see only the animal at purchase. Choosing captive-bred seahorses from specialist breeders, or declining to keep them at all, reduces demand for wild capture.