Close to five million smuggled seahorses, worth an estimated €18.5 million, were seized over the past decade. It is a staggering number that researchers say still underrepresents the true scale of the illegal trade.
A new study published in Conservation Biology examined global wildlife seizure data from 2010 to 2021 and discovered that seahorses – either dead and dried or alive – were most often found hidden in luggage or shipped by sea cargo across 62 countries. The majority were bound for traditional medicine markets in Asia.
