why keep seahorses

Most people are startled to discover that I keep seahorses.     The reaction doesn’t surprise me. For most of us, seahorses inhabit a mental space somewhere between sharks and dragons–real, but almost mythological, and exotic enough that we see them in public aquariums, if at all.   Even then, it’s sometimes difficult to catch a glimpse, between the crowds in front of the tank and the seahorses’ expert skills at camouflage. I’ve adored seahorses all my life, but decided to start keeping them in 2010–eighteen months after my father died. After doing “responsible things” with most of the money I inherited from him, my husband suggested