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Cover Image from: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2017/09/seahorse-ocean-pollution/
Image from: http://seaa.rwsentosablog.com/the-spotted-seahorses/
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The cool breeze rushes over the clear blue ocean water, transferring its energy into the waves. The tourist, sitting on the clean, white sand, notices the tide coming in, the moon urging it along, moves his chair back and continues to sip his coconut water. Under the water, schools of clownfish and rainbow fish weave through the vibrant colors of corals, swimming freely in the clear water. The abundance of seahorses cling to green seaweed and other underwater plants to keep themselves rooted.
As time progresses, the once fresh breeze is filled with smog from the nearby mainland factory. As it blows over the salty ocean water, it transfers nitrogen into the murky waves. The tourists no longer stroll on the white sand but avoid the trash-littered brown grit that is swept up into the ocean. Few schools of clownfish and rainbow fish linger any longer. The others have long moved on to cleaner waters. However, the fish that do still remain are forced to dodge pieces of debris floating absently in the milky water. The previously abundant seahorses have become scarce. The few remaining no longer cling to the orange coral or the green seaweed, but to wisps of plastic and bits of trash swept into the ocean at high tide.
One such seahorse remains. The conditions he has been living in equate to the great depression or the filthy streets of the renaissance, but he doesn't know what or when those were. All he knows is that his life-long mate was killed a week ago when she became tangled in the remains of a plastic bag. He knows that months ago, half of the seahorses in the reef were fished out by nets for human medicine. All he knows is that yesterday, he saw a sea turtle floating on the other side of the reef with its neck strangled by a plastic soda can holder, and that today, the current that pulls and shoves at the waves is stronger, so he has to hold onto a q-tip with bits of sticky wax on it. He knows that since the coral has died, it keeps breaking when a strong wave forms overhead, and the green plants that used to wave along with the current are no longer there to hold onto.
In the coming months, he will watch the remaining seahorses around him disappear in nets or from the plastic pollution. He will watch as stingrays swerve around plastic bags as they smoothly glide through the water and as the deceased coral cracks apart to reveal the rock underneath. The once stunning, vibrant coral reef has turned into a lifeless, underwater burial ground full of chalky white coral gravestones and the wispy tatters of torn shopping bags. All of this was caused by two words; plastic pollution.
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The Story of a Seahorse #planetorplastic
Short StoryFollow the experiences of a seahorse in the polluted reef that he lives in. I think that the pollution that we, as humans, have pushed into the oceans is extremely sad. The oceans and reefs that were once thriving with life are slowly being e...
