Sea horses brave the River Thames

The short snouted sea horse, usually located in the warmer waters of the Mediterranean or the Canary Islands, grow up to six inches long and mate for life.

This particular sub species of sea horse has been spotted around the coastal areas of Britain before, but the recent findings of them in the Thames has been a pleasant surprise. Never before have they been found so far upriver.

The sea horses have been spotted during a routine fisheries survey at Greenwich and the regular sightings hint toward a permanent population in the Thames. One of the sea horses found was a juvenile, this is hoped to be proof that the population is breeding and will hopefully expand.

Alison Shaw, the Wildlife and Countryside Act conservation manager said: “These amazing seahorses have been found in the Thames on a number of occasions in the past 18 months during our regular wildlife monitoring work.”

This new discovery is hoped to derive from efforts to clean up the Thames and make it a friendlier environment for wildlife. After claims that the Thames has been stripped of life after its ongoing sewage problems the news of a rare species setting up home has shown a step in the right direction.

Emma Barton, a fisheries officer at the Environment Agency, said: "This is a really good sign that sea horse populations are not only increasing but spreading to locations where they haven't been seen before."