Fakieh Aquarium, a premiere cultural and tourism institution in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will be displaying sea dragons - a rare and endangered animal closely related to the sea horse - that live exclusively in the cold waters along Australia’s southern coast.

Only about 10 aquariums worldwide exhibit sea dragons, mainly because of the difficulties involved in providing optimum conditions for their survival.

The sea dragon is especially adapted to the cold waters of the southern coast of Australia where it has no predators and its staple diet of myses and artemia, tiny brine shrimp, is plentiful. In order for the sea dragon – or any other sea creature with an exclusive natural habitat – to survive outside of the waters off southern Australia, the conditions of their home waters must be duplicated.

“Initially, we wanted the public to get a better understanding of the sea life that thrives in the Red Sea,” said Jay Bravo, Clear Reef on-site manager at Fakieh Aquarium, “and we focused our exhibits along those lines. As we go forward, however, we want to give the public a chance to learn about underwater life from other parts of the world, which is why we chose to bring this very rare and beautiful creature called the sea dragon.

Bravo added: “When we created the exhibition for the sea dragons, we had be sure that the water has the same salinity, the same acidity, the same temperature and that we provide the same amount of light as the creature’s native waters. Food, obviously, plays an important role in nurturing sea dragons.

Before putting the sea dragons on display, it was first necessary to wean them from a diet of myses and replace it with frozen food as well as monitor its food intake. “We had to make sure that they are eating while in quarantine because when they are being exhibited to the public, it is very difficult to know if they are eating or not,” Bravo explained.

“What makes this all worth it,” said Jameel Attar, Tarfeeh Fakieh’s executive director, “is the realisation on the part of the public that they are seeing something unique for the very first time.

Tarfeeh Fakieh’s main mission is to spread happiness and share knowledge with the local community. – TradeArabia News Service