AN unusual short snouted Seahorse has been washed up on the shore at the RSPB’s Arne reserve in Purbeck.

The dead male is from one of two species, the other is the spiny seahorse, known to be in Poole Harbour and at Studland, where they breed in the seagrass.

“It is more unusual to see the short snouted in there.

“We normally get the spiny’s although they are in equal numbers around the country,” said Neil Garrick-Maidment of The Seahorse Trust, who has preserved the creature in a jar of alcohol.

The small seahorse, only around 8cm long, had been pregnant in the past, but there were no eggs in his pouch when found, he said.

Unusually it is the males that harbour the females’ eggs, fertilise and hatch them.

A visitor handed the find to RSPB volunteer Graham Tarrant and he and his marine biologist daughter Polly Cleall-Harding, sent it to the trust.

There are now more than 30 logged sightings in the harbour and they give the trust important new information about these elusive creatures, such as the fact that they seem to stay year round in sheltered areas whereas on exposed coasts they go to deeper water in winter.

• The Seahorse Trust can be contacted on 01404 822373.