Seahorse World and Aquarium, Beauty Point

February 20, 2019

One of the best tourism experiences as it is so unique.  This started as a research and breeding program when we were living in Tasmania in the late 1990s and has evolved into a full scale tourist attraction with a 40 minute guided tour where the breeding cycle is explained and you can touch the seahorses as well. 

The shed housing Seahrse World is on the Beauty Point Wharf which is the homebase for the fleet of tugs which manage shipping in and out of the tamar (Bell Bay is directly across the river from here).  Our tour guide, above, shows us the tanks where the newly hatched young are progressed from a few days to about 1 month old via a circle of 16 tanks.

Freshly hatched young, above left, are transferred to the growing tanks and then on into the “school tanks”, above right.  This is a series of three tanks christened “primary school”, “high school” and “University” at which stage they are ready to breed.

Progressively we see the adults twisting around to find their mates; the male with the larger belly carries the eggs to the birthing.

The tour experience finishes with a display in multiple tanks of much of Tasmania’s marine life: