On Fri, 7 Mar 2003 M. Bevelhimer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hi Mark,

Funnily enough my FAVOURITE close-up pic of a leafy makes mention of the
Oregon & Tennesse aquariums :-)  Click on link below to check out all the
beautiful colo(u)rs & markings.
http://www.divegallery.com/leafy_dragon_head_detail.htm

<snip of the kiwi shears>
>The leafy juveniles cost the aquarium $3,000 USD a piece, but the
>weedy's were only $300 USD (or was it the other way around?).

The leafys are definitely more expensive as they are harder to keep & breed
up.  The weedy sea dragon is also known as the common sea dragon over here
which would explain the cheaper price.
Their only saving grace in the seahorse industry is that these 2 types are
not used in traditional Chinese medicine.  Because of Project Seahorse,
which highlighted the plight of wild seahorses, by the late 1990's there
was a huge push to enhance the conservation of seahorses over here.  Lots
of reasearch commenced in to the feasibility of farming seahorses for
research and supply of disease free stock for the aquarium trade.  The flow-
on from that was some went further - supply of dried seahorses for Chinese
medicine.

Many members of WAUPS became involved in Dragon Search WA which is a
community monitoring program. Over the last 4 years I've given out 100's of
sighting report sheets to divers, snorkellers, recreational fishers &
beachcombers.  Other members of WAUPS, who through their work have had to
go out on trawlers to collect data on by-catch, etc, have also been busy
filling in forms if any seadragons have been accidentally caught.

WAUPS also supports, and holds an annual photographic competition to
provide them with pics, the Cottesloe Marine Protection Group. Their emblem
is the leafy. Through that group we are pushing to increase the level of
protection for the Cottesloe reef system itself which has many offshore
limestone reefs and seagrass beds where seadragons have been sighted. Sadly
only leafys are protected under our current Fish Resources Management Act
but we have been lobbying Fisheries Western OZ to provide the same level of
protection for the weedys with many of us having petitions going at our
place of work.

<snip of the kiwi shears>
>The Choo-choo aquarium has successfully bred two batches of
>leafy seadragons (like they had anything to do with the actual
>breeding).  They believe they are some of first to be bred in
>captivity.

Ummm, if you are talking the US, probably right.  But worldwide no. I don't
know about any where else in southern OZ but here, at Perth's Underwater
World (now known as AQWA), their leafy seadragon breeding program began in
1989. Most of theirs are released back in to the wild.  Here is an account
of those breeding efforts back in the 1990s.
http://www.dragonsearch.asn.au/newslett/vol2_1/vol2_1.html#dbreed

Viv