UBC professor honoured as new seahorse species named after her work

A new seahorse species discovered in the Indian Ocean has been named after Amanda Vincent, a University of British Columbia professor who has dedicated her career to the study and preservation of seahorses.

The species, Hippocampus amandavincentae, is found in the Western Indian Ocean through East Africa, up to the Red Sea and down to Western India. Vincent described it as "a very elegant-looking seahorse," often silvery-white through golden, with the ability to change colour to match its habitat. The species has only been documented in a few specimens so far.

Vincent is the director of Project Seahorse, an international organization working to secure a future for seahorses and the oceans they inhabit. She learned of the honour when a friend reached out to her—a total surprise, she said. "Nobody knew about it but the scientists who named it."

The recognition comes as seahorse conservation grows more urgent. "A third of seahorse species are threatened with extinction," Vincent said. "And another third are data deficient, meaning we don't even know enough to calculate their status." She uses seahorses as ambassadors for broader ocean conservation. "People get passionately interested in seahorses, and we can use that interest and that engagement to try to generate strong action for conservation."

All true seahorses carry the scientific designation hippocampus—the same word used for the seahorse-shaped part of the human brain. None of these true seahorses are found in the Pacific Northwest, though the family Syngnathidae, which includes seahorses, pipefish, and seadragons, does have representatives in Metro Vancouver waters. Canada has one true seahorse species, the lined seahorse (Hippocampus erectus), found in Nova Scotia.