Wouldn’t it be handy to be able to look backwards and forwards at the same time? Even handier, some women may say, if the male of the species endured pregnancy. Impossible? No. For these feats of extraordinary evolutionary engineering are perfectly normal if you’re a seahorse.
I well remember the moment I first became aware that these seemingly exotic and exquisite creatures inhabit British waters. I was at Studland Bay, in Dorset, a location extremely important for its population of wonderful spiny seahorses, one of only two species indigenous to the UK, with around 54 worldwide. Our other one is the delightfully alliterative short-snouted seahorse.
