Seahorse aquaculture, biology and conservation: knowledge gaps and research opportunities

11 páginas, 6 figuras, 1 tablaSeahorses are currently experiencing an unprecedented level of anthropogenic pressure promoted by habitat destruction and increasing fishing effort to supply premium markets. This study provides an overview of the scientific literature on seahorses in the 21st century and critically discusses five major knowledge gaps and research opportunities to advance the state of the art on this research field. The average number of publications per year increased from 10 (2001–2002) to ∼40 (2001–2015), the majority addressing issues on seahorse ecology, biology, and aquaculture, with the most studied species being Hippocampus kuda, H. guttulatus, H. reidi, H. abdominalis, H. erectus, H. hippocampus, and H. trimaculatus. This study explores the opportunity of using seahorses as flagship species to foster mangrove conservation and decrease trawling fisheries. It also suggests that further scientific studies are needed to better understand and manage the populations of the most heavily traded seahorse species, as well as the need to monitor their vulnerability to emerging pollutants and climate change. Sustainable seahorse aquaculture can play an important role in seahorse conservation, as well as in the development of reliable traceability tools to fight the illegal trade of these highly priced organismsWe thank the São Paulo Research Foundation–FAPESP (grants nos. 2013/22260-6 and 2015/18050-0) and The National Council for Scientific and Technological Development–CNPq (grant nos. 441356/2014-1) for the financial support provided. Thanks also to FCT/MEC through national funds, and the cofunding by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020 for the financial support to CESAM (UID/AMB/50017/2013)Peer reviewe