Useful Links

IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List

Species conservation assessments, or IUCN Red List Assessments, are carried out to systematically determine the conservation status of a species. All three seadragon species have been assessed against the IUCN Red List criteria within the past 10 years.

• Weedy Seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus; LC) assessment

• Leafy Seadragon (Phycodurus eques; LC) assessment

• Ruby Seadragon (Phyllopteryx dewysea; DD) assessment

FishBase

FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web. Over time it has evolved into a dynamic and versatile ecological tool, widely cited in scholarly publications. All three seadragon species are in FishBase.

• Weedy Seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) on FishBase

• Leafy Seadragon (Phycodurus eques) on FishBase

• Ruby Seadragon (Phyllopteryx dewysea) on FishBase

SeadragonSearch

SeadragonSearch is a collaborative research project that seeks to expand understanding of wild seadragon populations through meaningful community involvement. Using data from underwater imagery, they have tracked these unique fish across their distribution for a decade, providing a window into their lives as well as the health of their habitats.

Australian Marine Conservation Society

The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) is a charity founded and run by a group of scientists, educators and advocates committed to taking action to defend Australia’s marine life. Their recently released report investigates the importance of marine protected areas across currently known seadragon ranges.

Read the report here: Creating a world class marine protected area system; Getting New South Wales back on track

Recent Seadragon Research

• Schartl, M.. (2023). What the genome of the leafy seadragon teaches us about rapid evolution of camouflage and adaptations to life in the kelp forest. Science China Life Sciences, 66(11), 2692–2693. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-023-2368-9

• Stiller, J., Wilson, N. G., & Rouse, G. W.. (2023). Range-wide population genomics of common seadragons shows secondary contact over a former barrier and insights on illegal capture. BMC Biology, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-023-01628-9

• Qu, M., Liu, Y., Zhang, Y., Wan, S., Ravi, V., Qin, G., Jiang, H., Wang, X., Zhang, H., Zhang, B., Gao, Z., Huysseune, A., Zhang, Z., Zhang, H., Chen, Z., Yu, H., Wu, Y., Tang, L., Li, C., … Lin, Q.. (2021). Seadragon genome analysis provides insights into its phenotype and sex determination locus. Science Advances, 7(34), eabg5196. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg5196

• Stiller, J., da Fonseca, R.R., Alfaro, M.E., Faircloth, B.C., Wilson, N.G., Rouse, G.W.. (2021). Using ultraconserved elements to track the influence of sea-level change on leafy seadragon populations. Molecular Ecology, 30(6), 1364–1380. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15744

• Klanten, O. S., Gaither, M. R., Greaves, S., Mills, K., O’Keeffe, K., Turnbull, J., Mckinnon, R., & Booth, D. J.. (2020). Genomic and morphological evidence of distinct populations in the endemic common (weedy) seadragon Phyllopteryx taeniolatus (Syngnathidae) along the east coast of Australia. PLOS ONE, 15(12), e0243446. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243446