The short snouted seahorse is native to British waters but very rare and a fisherman in southern England was amazed to find the tiny creatures in his nets.

He caught a total of 71 of the elusive species over two weeks and took them to a local wildlife centre.

Anglesey Sea Zoo's aquarium manager Karen Tuson said she and the staff were thrilled to bits with their new arrivals.

"To see this many adults was very unusual and it was decided to distribute them around UK aquariums who have a good track record of breeding sea horses.

"Our zoo is a part of a huge breeding programme and we have to share information and records about how much they eat and how many babies are born.

"It's so rare to find so many sea horses in one go in UK waters. They are British and are quite rare, and they are now a protected species," said Karen.

The fisherman found them in his nets in September last year while fishing off Hastings.

There were 18 males, 20 females and 33 juveniles.

He took them to Hastings Blue Reef Aquarium and they identified them as the short stouted sea species.

"We were given four males and four females," added Karen.

"The female passes the eggs to the male and he fertilises them and stores them in a pouch - a bit like a kangaroo.

"He will give birth to about 300 tiny babies which are 4-6mm long when they are born.

Unfortunately as in the wild not all of them will survive."