Snake pipefish invasion

The snake pipefish (Entelurus aqueorus) is a very slow moving, gentle relative of the seahorse. It can be up to 60cm long, and is very colourful when alive, bright yellow/green with iridescent turquoise stripes and it is a very poor swimmer.

It had a population boom in 2007 which meant that many were washed up on Norfolk’s beaches. Walkers were able to pick them up in handfuls to return them to the sea! Because of reports from people wh had don this, Seasearch was able to map where and when they were occurring, which was useful to several groups, as they were replacing sand eels as a main food source for sea bass and various birds, such as puffins. Unfortunately, not many animals can digest pipefish and this affected the breeding success of several species.