This article appeared in Discover’s annual state of science issue as “Seahorse Paradise.” Support our science journalism by becoming a subscriber.
The first time biologist Heather Masonjones heard about the seahorses on Eleuthera Island, she had trouble believing in a place where seahorses were as common as other fish. After 29 years studying the animals, the University of Tampa seahorse expert had never seen more than a handful together underwater in her whole career. But once she was immersed in the emerald waters of the mile-long Sweetings Pond, which sits on a narrow crescent of an island in the Bahamas, she started to believe the hype.
“It was an absolutely magical moment,” she says, adding that she saw 16 of the animals in several dives during the first weekend in the water there — an enormous amount, given she had only ever seen three or four in a single dive ...
