Seadragons are iconic fishes endemic to, and flagships for, Australia’s Great Southern Reef. Seadragon Conservation is a partnership among UTS Fish Ecology lab, Sealife Aquarium Sydney and artisan-conservationist Jordan Askill. The partnership combines research, citizen science and outreach related to seadragon conservation to mitigate impacts to threatened populations.
Here we summarise state of weedy seadragon research; highlighting “washups” of weedy seadragon in SE Australia and the impacts of South Australia’s ongoing Harmful Algal Bloom on both weedy and leafy seadragon populations. We describe ex-situ seadragon breeding programs in global public aquaria and their role in wild seadragon conservation, and National and IUCN Redlist assessments. In addition, we will discuss the effectiveness of public outreach and art installations on seadragons to highlight the effects of climate change and other human influences on marine ecosystems.