Regional

Regional assessments of species’ conservation status can be particularly important in embracing an entire sea or region that is united by ecological and/or management considerations.

The IUCN Red List encourages such regional assessments once the global assessment has been complete. Such focus on larger geographic areas can help with implementation of regional accords and guidelines, as with European Union habitat directives for example. The process itself can also be helpful for building regional approaches.

Available regional assessments

Regional assessments for seahorses are available for the Europe, Mediterranean, Persian Gulf and Gulf of Mexico. For Europe, both seahorse species (H. guttulatus and H. hippocampus) are considered Data Deficient while the same species are assessed as Near Threatened for just the Mediterranean. Within the Persian Gulf one seahorse species (H. kuda) is classified as Data Deficient. In the Gulf of Mexico assessments, one seahorse species is Vulnerable (H. erectus), one is Near Threatened (H. zosterae) and one is Least Concern (H. reidi). No regional assessments are available for the speciose Indo-west Pacific.