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The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) has thanked volunteers who came out in numbers to help rescue stranded seahorses in Plettenberg Bay.
A spokesperson for the Department Peter Mbelengwa says over the last 24 hours a large number of abalone, alikreukel and other shellfish has washed up along the coast, likely as a result of the exceedingly high rainfall and flooding over the past week.
He says the fresh flood water diluted the seawater in the nearshore and fish tend to move away from these areas.
DFFE says non-moving (sessile) invertebrates cannot move away which results in physiological stress by the fresher water.
Mbelenga says this is likely why mostly abalone and other molluscs washed up, while other species such as fish and rock lobster swam and/or walked away.
In Plett, a substantial number of seahorses washed up on Lookout Beach as a result of the Keurbooms and Bitou rivers swelling into the coastal areas.
Screenshot of video shared by Orca Foundation on Facebook.
This unusual water flow caused seagrass with seahorses to wash up on the beach, flushed out by the high flow.
About 600 Seahorses were collected and taken for rehabilitation by Cape Nature who took them to a calm patch of eelgrass in the Keurbooms estuary.
Knysna seahorses are endemic to the Garden route where they are only found in 3 estuaries, they are also the most threatened species of seahorse in the world and the first listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List in 2004.
DFFE says it is likely that other unusual washouts will occur over the next week.
