European Union of Aquarium Curators

Marine Teleost TAG: Fish of the year campaign

The Marine Teleost TAG is thrilled to announce the 2025 "Fish of the Year" campaign, spotlighting the captivating seahorse as our ambassador species. This initiative aims to raise awareness about the threats facing marine ecosystems due to human activities and to promote conservation efforts for these unique creatures. Seahorses, belonging to the Syngnathidae family, are renowned for their distinctive appearance and remarkable reproductive behavior, where males carry and birth the young. Despite their charm, seahorse populations are declining due to habitat destruction, overfishing, and use in traditional medicine. Notably, the long-snouted (Hippocampus guttulatus) and short-snouted (Hippocampus hippocampus) seahorses have been designated as EEPs under the Marine Teleost TAG. Building on the success of last year's campaign featuring the Banggai cardinalfish, we invite zoos, aquariums, and educational institutions to participate in this year's seahorse campaign. A suite of free, ready-to-use educational materials—including posters, activity sheets, and customizable templates—is available to engage visitors and inform them about seahorse conservation. These resources can be accessed here.

Join the campaign

The campaign will offer various opportunities for participation.

The centrepiece of the campaign is the International Marine Fish Day, a global event dedicated to marine fish conservation and taking place for the first time on 6 August 2024. Participants wanting to take a more active role in the campaign can mark the day by organising events at their aquarium and creating educational activities that raise awareness of marine fish conservation. Ideas for activities will be proposed by the TAG at the beginning of spring to help you organise this day within your institution.

The TAG has posters available and invites participants to support the TAG and the campaign by uploading their own translations and own poster or educational material so it may be shared across other aquariums. 

The materials can be found here