A GROUNDBREAKING study into the lives of seahorses has begun in Studland Bay.

The Seahorse Trust is studying three seahorses, including a pair, to get an idea of their behaviour.

Conservationist Steve Trewhella is part of the team working on the project, the first of its kind in the UK.

He said: “To find a pair, and only the third pair that’s ever been seen in the country, is great.

“We know nothing about them, we don’t know if they pair for life or have territory. We don’t know how far they travel or where they go in the winter.”

The trust is using non-intrusive tags that do not affect the lives of the creatures and the project is expected to last several years.

It has a special licence to handle, tag and photograph seahorses.

Purbeck beauty spot Studland is known to have the highest density of seahorses in the world and the only place in the world that comes close is Rio Formosa in Portugal.

Steve added: “We take GPS marks of where we find them, so we can go back on a weekly basis to the GPS mark and do a survey of the area.

“It’s never been done in this country before – Studland is a special place.”

As reported by the Daily Echo, the trust is concerned over damage to seahorse habitats thanks to pleasure boats anchoring in the bay, damaging the seagrass that the underwater creatures live in.

It is pressuring authorities to bring in measures to protect the species and the idea behind the tagging project is to help put together a management plan.