Seahorses are threatened by targeted collection for traditional medicine and incidental capture as bycatch, with individual animals experiencing the stress of capture and captive conditions.
Wild-caught seahorses experience significant stress during capture and transport. As poor swimmers, any net interaction is extremely stressful. They are frequently dried and sold as traditional medicine - requiring drowning or desiccation as killing methods. Seahorses collected for the aquarium trade face transport conditions that cause mortality in a proportion of animals. Even surviving specimens face the challenge of adapting to tank conditions that differ from their complex wild habitat. Captive breeding programs can meet aquarium demand without these welfare costs.