Weedy Seadragons: the seahorse’s larger cousin and a master of disguise in Australian waters. These unique creatures, affectionately known as ‘weedies’, are endemic to Australia and are the designated marine emblem of Victoria. In our eyes, weedies are one of the unsung heroes of Australian waters - visually spectacular whilst living a quiet and unassuming life, crucial to their local ecosystems.

Usually in shallow waters, weedies can most commonly be found in areas where there is good kelp coverage, next to areas of sand where their preferred meal hangs out (mysid shrimp). Hard to spot with their brilliant kelp-inspired camouflage, it’s possible that you might have passed one by without even noticing. But of course Mother Nature chose this by design, as these guys are not known for their swimming ability and are heavily reliant on their camouflage both for hunting and protection. Lacking a caudal fin, travelling at a top speed of <0.1mile per hour, and with fragile swim bladders, weedies are weak swimmers to say the least. This leaves them very susceptible to changes in their environment, and with low levels of genetic diversity (Klanten et al., 2020), they are not likely to be resilient in the face of any anthropogenic or environmental pressures. To give you a bit of an idea, our unsung heroes can often be found washed ashore, tangled up in seaweed after a storm…! 

Weedies can grow up to 45cm, and are typically fairly solitary creatures. Like their smaller seahorse cousins, the males are responsible for carrying the young for around 6 weeks of gestation after breeding in the summer months. Newly hatched seadragons survive off of their yolk sacs, hunting tiny zooplankton until they are able to take on the (slightly less tiny) mysid shrimp and like adult seadragons, they are heavily dependent upon their camouflage.

As with all marine life, weedies are not without their threats, and were listed as Vulnerable with a decreasing population on the IUCN Red List just last year. The threats they’re facing are mostly centred on environmental changes - ocean warming, ocean acidification, direct pollution and habitat destruction, as well as the ever-indiscriminate bycatch from trawlers. There’s also the occasional bout of competing with invasive urchin species in some of Australia’s more southern waters - which of course our friends struggle with due to the aforementioned lack of swimming skill. Oh, and they are highly sought after on the illegal pet trade market. So, all in all it’s looking good for these guys! 

With their vulnerable population status, weak life-history dynamics and marine emblem status, you wouldn’t be mistaken for thinking that we should be doing more to look after these iconic species. Aside from tackling the big issues which would have a positive knock-on effect for all marine life, research is our best friend when it comes to understanding a species’ strengths, weaknesses and challenges so that we can protect them to the best of our ability. Using this sort of research to underpin campaigns is sometimes the only way to successfully drive forward political changes.

Luckily, supporting research in this field is easier than ever. Like a sea turtle’s face, or the underside of a manta ray, researchers have found that individual weedies can be identified by their unique facial pattern. If you’ve been diving around Australia and come across these amazing creatures, you can snap a picture to submit to SeadragonSearch to contribute to their community-based research initiative. 

And if you love weedies as much as we do, go check out our merch page to see some new designs we’re sure you’ll love (wink).

Photos by Bom Buyers @dombuyersunderwater