Conservation Organizations

Australian Marine Conservation Society: Working to protect Australia's coasts, waterways, and seas.
Coast Care: A National environmental program helping Austrialians care for their coasts.
Conservation Council of Southern Australia: Unites more than 60 conservation groups.
Dragon Search: Dedicated to monitoring the sea dragon in Australian coastal waters.
Marine and Coastal Community Network: Promoting a cooperative approach to marine and coastal management.
Marine Education Society of Australasia: Promoting sustainable use of marine and coastal environments through education.
Marine Life Society of South Australia: Working to educate the public on issues of conservation of life in the sea.
Save Our Tropical Marine Environment: Dedicated to informing people about the importance of protecting marine life and their habitats.

           
Photo Courtesy of                                      Photo Courtesy of
Monterey Bay Aquarium                    Marine Life Society of South Australia


Going on vacation in Australia sometime soon? Planning on snorkeling? Maybe check out the Leafy Sea Dragon in its natural environment? You can help out in the efforts to protect these magnificent creatures! Download Sea Dragon sighting forms here.


Author: Emily Warrener
Creation/revision date: 30.April 2003
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Introduction

The lesser-known cousin of the sea horse, the sea dragon, is a true bony fish that, like the sea horse, has a long slender body that is covered by bony plates. There are two species of sea dragon, the Common or Weedy Sea Dragon,Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, and the much rarer Leafy Sea Dragon, Phycodurus eques. Leafy Sea Dragons can grow to be approximately 45 cm (20 in.) long and weigh only a quarter of a pound (Aquarium of the Pacific 2003). Unlike the sea horse, their tails cannot grip objects or coil up (Aquarium of the Pacific 2003, Department of Fisheries 1998). Their bodies are covered with elaborate leafy appendages and large spines (Australian Museum Online 2001). The adults are anywhere from green to yellow or brown, and interestingly, they can change colors, caused by many factors including age, habitat, diet or stress levels (Dragon Search 2000).


This image courtesy of
Australian Museum Online

Leafy Sea Dragons are found only off of the coast of the Australian provinces South Australia, Western Australia, and Victoria (Aquarium of the Pacific 2003, Jeffords 2003). Here they live in the shallow coastal waters, mostly around rocky reefs, seaweed beds, and meadows of seagrass (Imgrund 2000), where they feed on tiny mysid shrimp, commonly called sea lice, as well as plankton and larval fishes (Aquarium of the Pacific 2003, Jeffords 2003). Their thick, solid hide and tiny fins make the Leafy Sea Dragon very slow, so they appear to mostly just flow with the current (Monterey Bay Aquarium 2003, Department of Fisheries 1998, Zoological Parks). Their main defense is camouflage, which they accomplish very well.

The reproductive habits of the Leafy Sea Dragon are fascinating. During the mating season, from October to January, the females will lay about 100-250 eggs onto a special brood patch on the underside of the males’ tails, where they are fertilized and incubated. After 4-6 weeks, the eggs will hatch, and from then on the baby sea dragons are independent. Males will hatch two clutches each breeding season. (Aquarium of the Pacific 2003, Department of Fisheries 1998, Zoological Parks).


This shows the male sea dragon's tail filled with eggs. The tail gets a distinct lumpy appearance.

Photo Courtesy of Andrew Melville

Conservation Status

The Leafy Sea Dragon is listed as a totally protected species by the Western Australia Department of Fisheries. The South Australian Fisheries Act 1982, Section 42 prohibits taking a protected species such as the Leafy Sea Dragon from Australian waters.

          


 Photo Courtesy of                                                                          PhotoCourtesy of
Marine Life Society of South Australia                       Marine Education Society of Australasia

Conservation Issues

Despite the fact that the Leafy Sea Dragon has no known natural predators, they are becoming extremely rare. One of the biggest threats to them is the damage to their rather restricted habitat, from pollution and fertilizer run-off. Humans are also directly threatening the beautiful Leafy Sea Dragons by illegally capturing them to sell to collectors and to the pet trade, as well as harassing them in order to get great vacation photographs (Monterey Bay Aquarium 2003, Department of Fisheries 1998, Zoological Parks). In addition, they are sought for use in oriental medicines (Monterey Bay Aquarium 2003, Imgrund 2000). Bad storms are also harmful to the Leafy Sea Dragons, since their fragile flotation bladders cannot cope with suddenly changing water depth or pressure (Department of Fisheries 1998).

The Leafy Sea Dragon is protected by the Australian government, but they do allow for a single brooding male to be taken per year, so that the hatchlings can be sent to research and education programs at aquariums. However, no one has been able to successfully breed the Leafy Sea Dragon in captivity (Dragon Search 2000). There are many conservation groups in Australia that work to educate the public of Australia's endangered marine species. In particular, the Dragon Search program was started in order to involve the public in the monitoring of sea dragons. Since it has been found that individual Leafy Sea Dragons can be identified by the markings on their face, preliminary tracking studies have been started (Melville 2000). Despite these efforts, there is still much to be learned about the Leafy Sea Dragon and how we can save this unique creator from extinction.

Literature Cited

Aquarium of the Pacific. 2003. Animal Database.
URLhttp://www.aquariumofpacific.org/ANIMAL_DATABASE/animaldbase.html#
(6 March 2003)
Australian Museum Online. 2001. Fish in Focus. URL http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/students/focus/seadrag.htm (3 April 2003)
Dragon Search. 2000. Sygnathids. URL http://www.dragonsearch.asn.au/brochure/brochure.html (3 April 2003)
Imgrund, John. 2000. Aquarium of Western Australia: Sea Dragons.
URL http://www.aqwa.com.au/leafy.html (6 March 2003)
Jeffords, Jeffrey. 2003. Gallery IV: Leafy Sea Dragons.
URL http://www.divegallery.com/Leafy_Sea_Dragon.htm
(6 March 2003)
Marine Life of South Australia. The Year of the Dragon. URL http://www.mlssa.asn.au/
(6 March 2003)
Melville, Andrew. 2000. Leafy Sea Dragons. URL http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Trails/5259/ilsd.html (3 April 2003)
Monterey Bay Aquarium. 2003. Leafy Sea Dragon.
URL http://www.mbayaq.org/efc/living_species/default.asp?hOri=1&inhab=415
(6 March 2003)
Western Australia Department of Fisheries. 9 August 1998. Endangered Sea Dragon.
URL http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/rec/broc/fishcard/dragon.html (6 March 2003)
Zoological Parks and Gardens Board. Australian Emblems South Australia.
URL http://mzsrv.zoo.org.au/emblems/safish.htm (29 March 2003)