Reoccurrence of the Pacific Seahorse
Page 2 of 4
The specimen was later donated to the Scripps Aquarium. In addition to the specimens which have been taken and donated to either the Scripps Aquarium or Sea World, there have been several reports from San Diego Bay of up to three individuals seen at one time (by a diver working under the radar dome of a U.S. Navy Destroyer at NASSCO Shipyard, and also by Navy Seal divers). Photographs of specimens taken in the Bay have been displayed at some of the local fishing piers.

Most recently (12 June 1986) a specimen measuring 21 cm was found attached to eelgrass at a depth of about 2.5 m in east Harbor Island basin during a dive survey. Two specimens were also sighted by divers in eelgrass in San Diego Bay near Coronado Island (K. Dyke, pers. comm. 1985).
All the specimens from San Diego Bay were caught or observed in less than 10 m water depth and some seahorses were in areas near eelgrass habitat. Previous records indicate that the preferred habitat was offshore in open coastal water, where specimens were caught at depths greater than 10 m or were occasionally swimming at the surface (Fritzsche 1980).
At least two of these records were taken as male-female pairs. The size of seahorses reported here range from 15 cm to 25 cm.

Monthly trawling surveys of Mission Bay since April 1984 and weekly diving surveys over the same time period indicate no seahorses present even though eelgrass is plentiful (Kent and Ford, pers, comm.). A few seahorses have washed ashore, however, and have been collected alive (Snodgrass 1986).