The project “Cavallets de mar balears” frees 70 seahorses in Mallorca

Thanks to the project "Cavallets de mar balears", fruit of the collaboration between Palma Aquarium Foundation and Banca March, las October 1st and 3rd, 2025, the introductions of 70 seahorses were carried out in Cala Figuera (Calvià) and Cabo Salines (Colònia de Sant Jordi), both locations categorized as LIC areas (Communitary Interest Place).

The seahorses are authentic health indicators of the marine ecosystems, even though they are extremely vulnerable. The project “Cavallets de mar balears”, started in March of 2022 thanks to the collaboration of Banca March, which gives 10% of the sustainable fund management commission Mediterranean Fund to projects related to seahorses in an artificial controlled environment, aims to ease the seahorses reproductions in a controlled artificial  environment to then introduce them into their natural habitat.The objective of the initiative is reinforcing wild populations of both existing species in the Mediterranean, who have seen their populations reduced between a 25 and a 30% in the least decades.

In this action of marine conservation, the technical team of Palma Aquarium and its Foundation moved 66 common Hippocampus hippocampus seahorses last October 1st from Palma Aquarium to Puerto Portals and on October 3rd 3 Hippocampus guttulatus and a Hippocampus guttulatus reproducing female to the Puerto de la Colonia Sant Jordi, where they embarked into the zero emissions electric ship Galaxie Stenella, operated by TrueWorld. The diving centre Sietemares gave the diving materials for the event.

These animals, born and taken care of in Palma Aquarium, have been between 1 year and 1’5 years in these facilities especially dedicated to the project to obtain a big enough size, of 12 cm, to preserve their survival in a natural environment.

The chosen locations for these liberation are LIC areas, Communitary Interest Place, space designed by the European Union for the conservation of natural habitats and flora species and communitary interest fauna, contributing to restoring Europe’s biodiversity and ecosystems.

Up until now, with these two last liberations, a total of 1.517 seahorses have been introduced into the Balearic sea, thanks to the project “Cavallets de mar balears”.

The project "Cavallets de mar balears" has been possible thanks to the solidary component of the Mediterranean Fund, a thematic fund of variable, sustainable and solidary rent managed by March A.M., manager of the Banca March Group, that invests in two topics whose sectors present a superior growth to the expected one for the world’s economy such as the ocean and water’s economy, and that gives the 10% of the management commission to projects such as “Cavallets de mar balears”, destined to the Mediterranean’s biodiversity preservation thought seahorses’ reproduction. Sustainability is a commitment integrated in the strategic objective of Growth alongside Banca March, base of its centenary philosophy.

Palma Aquarium Foundation and Banca March reaffirm this way their commitment with sustainability, conservation and marine biodiversity and the preservation of the environment.