Donald Trump Would Say This Sea Horse Is…YUGE!

Photo credit: Michael Bailey via The Daily Echo

A fisherman off the coast of Dorset, England captured the largest sea horse ever recorded. Michael Bailey caught this whooper in his net recently and did his part for conservation – he returned it to the ocean after freeing it from his net.

So how big is this record-setter?

34 centimeters!

That’s over a foot. YUGE!

“I normally see maybe 20 to 30 a year,” said the skipper of the fishing vessel Karen Rose. “They are everywhere.”

He said, “They come up on our nets. We use ring nets. We shoot the net straight out and it comes straight back in. They grab it with their tail.”

Bailey said he fishes for mullet about four to five miles out to sea in an area that has a lot of vegetation on the sea floor, making it a good environment for sea horses.

The sea horses were listed as a protected in 2008. Bailey told the Daily Echo he once brought in a pregnant sea horse to the Sea Horse Trust for care.

Neil Garrick-Maidment, executive director of the trust said, “Michael is dedicated to the ocean where he earns his living. He has been very good to us, letting us know when he finds seahorses and always puts them straight back into the sea for the good of the species.”

“Michael is a good ambassador for seahorses as he talks with his fellow fishermen and lets them know what he is doing and I think he has encouraged others to also put them back into the water. We just need them to also report them in to us.”

Thank you Michael Bailey – the Sea Horse Whisperer.

h/t The Daily Echo