CONCERN has been raised that months after they are normally seen, not one seahorse has been spotted at Studland this year.

Despite numerous dives by The Seahorse Trust, none of the delightful creatures have been found among the seagrass in the waters outside Poole Harbour.

They have been spotted in Poole Harbour and Swanage Bay so the trust knows they are in shallow waters, but has yet to find one at Studland, the only known breeding site for both British species, spiny and short-snouted.

“We dived again at Studland on Saturday and covered a very large area,” said Neil Garrick-Maidment, executive director of The Seahorse Trust, adding there were 73 boats anchored there.

“We spent a total of nine hours in the water. We even covered areas we would not expect to find them in at this time of year, just in case.

“Despite the temperature being 16 degrees there were still no seahorses. We have not had one at Studland this year. Normally the seahorses appear when the temperature hits nine degrees, which it did a number of weeks ago and checking back at the records the seahorses usually appear late April to May time.

“Allowing for the unusual weather this year they are still very late and if they were there we would see them with the experienced, skilled team we take in.”

He described it as “an extremely worrying situation” for a species protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

Numbers had already dropped dramatically since the second half of 2008 when there were 58 sightings of 40 individuals, down to seven sightings last year of five seahorses.

He has said there was considerably more Japanese weed around this year and the seagrass looked “odd”. He has called on the Marine Management Organisation and Natural England to investigate.