Until recently, only a few benthic species of shark, such as horn sharks, leopard sharks and cat sharks, had survived in aquarium conditions for over a year. Nowadays aquariums desire larger, open ocean (pelagic) sharks which brings further challenges in terms of providing adequate and appropriate space for the sharks to travel around in. There also arises the issue of electromagnetic signals. However, no aquarium tank can provide these animals an optimal environment and, in many cases, large shark species are dumped into unsuitable, restrictive …

A very special group of marine fish exploited by the aquarium industry are the Syngnathidae, a family that includes seahorses, pipefishes, and sea dragons. Seahorses are bony fishes whose evolutionary history is so recent that the major stages of morphological evolution are still represented in extant species.

Sea Life London states: ‘We never take any [seahorses] from the sea for display – and if they become extinct, we’ll release our stocks into the wild’ (Sea Life website). In reality, if seahorse species become extinct, it is …