By Patricia Arrigoni
Seahorses, those mythical animals seen floating through the pages of children's books, are alive and swimming in tanks by the thousands in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Today visitors are welcome to see them at the Ocean Rider Seahorse Farm located on the Big Island at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority about a mile south of the Kona International Airport.
What brought my attention to the seahorses was an ad in a brochure I picked up coming through the airport that read, "Ocean Rider is the first and only seahorse farm in the world dedicated to preserving the endangered seahorse with the world's only living gene bank of live, breeding seahorses and sea dragons, housing more than 30 species here on their three-acre oceanfront farm at Keahole Point, Kona. On this tour you will be able to hold a seahorse in your hands and see babies, pregnant males (pregnant males?), leafy sea dragons and seahorses from all over the world, including Hawaii and Australia." I was hooked!
Reservations are a must, so I signed up for a 10 a.m. Monday tour. Other tours were scheduled for 12 noon and 2 p.m. The cost of the ticket was $43.98 ($42 plus tax or $40 if you paid online). Children ages 4 to 12 are charged $32 and toddlers ages 3 and under are free.
I was given a nametag and paper towel and directed to go outside to wash my hands and arms thoroughly up to my elbows.
Around 25 people showed up for the tour, which was directed by an enthusiastic young woman of Dutch extraction named Ashley Van Jetzer.
She began with a little background information on how some 60 million seahorses had been used as a restorative fertility drug in Asia, which led to their near extinction. Seahorses were also made into jewelry or sold to aquariums. Sadly, when seahorses were taken live from the oceans of the world, they only lived six to eight weeks as compared to five to 10 years when raised on the farm.
Van Jetzer then led us to an ocean pond that looked to be built out of lava rock. I learned it was called an "anchialine pond," which meant that the water flowed from the ocean through the lava into the pond. It was where brine shrimp were raised to feed the seahorses.
She then explained that the facility had opened in Hawaii in 1998, the creation of marine biologists Carol Cozzi-Schmarr and her husband, Craig Schmarr. They began by raising and selling seahorses to people for seawater aquariums. Eventually they added a living gene bank. Now they sell the seahorses in pairs as the animals bond with a mate for life. The seahorses also come with feed and aquarium supplies. They are sold directly to the end buyers but not in Hawaii where, if released into the ocean, they could impact local species.
Our next stop was the paternity ward occupied by pregnant males in big blue saltwater tanks. Yes, pregnant males! The female wraps herself around the male and plants eggs into his front pouch, which he fertilizes. He carries the eggs for the 30-day gestation period; then he does a jackknife maneuver and out come around 600 (up to 2,000) baby seahorses.
Does he get a rest? No. The female deposits more eggs the next day. Male seahorses literally spend their lives pregnant.
Visitors are told they can feed the seahorses by pouring glasses of water filled with shrimp into the tanks. Several glasses sat around each tank. When I poured mine in dozens of pregnant males rushed over and battled for the meal. They are also fed algae fortified with vitamins and minerals.
We were then shown some endangered leafy sea dragons presented to the seahorse farm from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. Next is a sustainable aquarium that contains a display of more than half of the world's 36 species of seahorses. This was followed by an interactive tide pool and a fish feeding station designed for children.
The highlight of the tour was actually holding a seahorse in my cupped hands, thumbs out. We were instructed that seahorses need to be kept under water at all times as they can't breathe if they are pulled up into the air.
Seahorses can vary in size from less than an inch to more than a foot and have prehensile tails that hook onto underwater vegetation. Their tiny bodies are covered with protective bony plates, and their mouths have sucking tubes. Colors can vary according to their environment — ranging from ivory to orange, yellow, gray, maroon, green and black.
The seahorses we held were around 2 inches long. One of the volunteer aides put one into my carefully cupped underwater hands, and it quickly swam away, as did the second one. On the third try the aide coiled the tail around one of my fingers and the seahorse grabbed hold. It even got interested enough to poke its nose against the palm of my hand before it, too, swam away. It was delightful.
Seahorses are noted on the threatened species list as endangered. It is estimated that 50,000 farm-raised seahorses consumed by the aquarium trade save around a million seahorses previously caught and sold from the world's oceans. Seahorses from the farm also have a survival rate up to 80 percent compared to a 0.1 percent survival in the wild.
Thanks to this productive seahorse farm operating in Hawaii, life is looking better for the magical tiny horses of the sea.
WHEN YOU GO
Ocean Rider Seahorse Farm: www.seahorse.com or 808-329-6840
The Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority: www.nelha.org or 808-327-9585. As you leave the Kona International Airport, turn right, or south, and the Natural Energy Lab, an 870-acre ocean science and technology park, is located just over a mile. Look for a flat tower built to hold solar panels. Turn right and follow that road to the ocean, where it turns right. Keep going until you see some blue buildings on your right.
Places to stay include King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel, www.konabeachhotel.com or 808-329-2911, and Sheraton Kona Resort and Spa at Keauhou Bay: www.sheratonkona.com or 808-930-4900.
Restaurants we liked were Huggo's on the Rocks: www.huggosontherocks.com or 808-329-1493. This is a fun place overlooking the ocean with bar, light evening entertainment and sand between your toes.
Kona Inn Restaurant: www.windandsearestaurants.com or 808-329-445. This is the first place I head every time I return to Kailua for a feeling of beautiful old Hawaii and an outstanding Cobb salad.
The Fish Hopper: www.fishhopper.com/kona or 808-326-2002. Ocean view, famous Bloody Marys and a free appetizer with the purchase of entree.
Sam Choy's Kai Lanai is located above the Keauhou Shopping Center: www.samchoy.com or 808-333-3434. It offers fabulous outdoor views of the ocean and sunset, full bar, good spareribs.
Patricia Arrigoni is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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