Lloyd Bond has been diving the waters of Nova Scotia for the last 20 years, often coming across flatfish, lobster and sea urchins that typically populate cooler northern climates.

At first glance, it looks like a branch of kelp, but then an eye moves among its leafy appendages, and ridges of tiny, translucent fins start to flutter, sending the creature gliding through the water like something from a fairy tale.

University of British Columbia researchers have found a new way to identify which marine species are threatened and what is threatening them, even if these species lack data, a new study published in the journal Conservation Biology shows.

At first glance, it looks like a branch of kelp, but then an eye moves among its leafy appendages, and ridges of tiny, translucent fins start to flutter, sending the creature gliding through the water like something from a fairy tale.

Many countries are engaged in a vast illegal and unrecorded international trade in seahorses, one that circumvents global regulations, according to new UBC study that has implications for many other animal species.