Seahorse World has unveiled its 'Hands of Hope' exhibit to showcase critically endangered species of handfish. Video by Aaron Smith (2/12/24)
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00:00So we've had handfish on display as part of a wider exhibit for a number of years but to actually
00:05dedicate a room to the handfish and to be able to tell the public about their peril because they are
00:12critically endangered and it's super important that we actually get involved and do something
00:18to save the species. As the saying goes we only protect things that we love and so being able to
00:24educate the public about these beautiful fish and for them to be able to see the fish firsthand
00:31and it's the only place in the world they can see both a spotted and a red handfish so that's
00:34quite significant and then hopefully they'll get excited about saving the species as well.
00:39So the captive breeding of the species is only one part of it it's the habitat restoration right
00:44and and the monitoring of what's going on in the wild that's hugely hugely important and we're able
00:50to tell that story too so scientists are constantly monitoring the wild constantly monitoring the
00:55numbers and monitoring the habitat and the restoration of the habitat putting things in
00:59place like so the spotted handfish is in peril because their stalked ascidians where they lay
01:05their eggs are being decimated and so they are actually planting artificial spawning habitats
01:11and they've planted 14,000 of them to replace the stalked ascidians that have been decimated
01:16and that's having a really big impact so all this work's being done
01:20so we're just one part of the puzzle and we're excited to be there.