Brian the seahorse's lonely days are almost over

Fisherman Brian Baker spotted the short-snouted seahorse in seaweed as he trawled off Essex in July.

Now his seahorse, who has been named Brian and lives at Southend's Sealife Adventure Centre, is to be joined by a female from a centre in Ireland.

Sealife curator David Knapp said Roisin would be travelling in style, chauffeur driven to Dublin Airport to fly in to Stansted on Wednesday.

Mr Knapp said one-year-old Roisin had been bred in captivity at Seahorse Ireland on the west coast at Galway.

Breeding hopes

She will be in quarantine for four weeks before she and the fisherman's namesake are put into a tank together after some time in adjoining tanks.

"Hopefully they will be able to see each other through the glass and when they get together they will be raring to go," Mr Knapp said.

He said if they pair bred is would be an important development - as a seahorse from the wild, Brian, thought to be three or four years old, could have a central role for improving the gene pool of the captive breeding stock.

The sea creatures, which are mainly found in the warmer climate of the Bay of Biscay and the Channel Islands, had not been seen in the Thames since 1976.

Experts said the discovery of Brian was a sign the Thames was becoming cleaner.