
Seahorses are unusual in the animal kingdom: the males actually carry and deliver the babies. After an elaborate courtship ritual, the female deposits eggs in the male’s pouch; the eggs eventually hatch and fully-developed baby seahorses emerge in a pretty surprising display of male birth (often the babies come in a veritable flood). Below, I’ve collected some videos of the process!
This video shows a Hippocampus reidi giving birth in spurts.
This H. erectus seahorse delivers babies individually, with Elvis-the-Pelvis action.
I think this is another H. reidi. A very clear video.
Two H. subelongatus engage in a courtship dance.
Two H. reidi make it happen, complete with an egg transfer at the end.
Read more about seahorse reproduction at Wikipedia. Note: as a former seahorse keeper, I can tell you it is very difficult to care for these fish; be prepared to feed them constantly with live brine shrimp, take great care with your water chemistry, and be advised — this is not a fish for beginners!
kind of disturbing. haha. in all seriousness its very interesting!
posted by ian on 3-18-2010 at 1:14 am
The babies are so tiny – how do they keep from being sucked up in the filter?
posted by Stina on 3-18-2010 at 10:38 am
Stina — they don’t. Usually seahorse keepers turn off filters or cover them with fine mesh when babies are present.
posted by Chris Higgins on 3-18-2010 at 1:19 pm
do all of the babies usually survive? Seems like that woudl be a crowded tank!
posted by Katie Rose on 3-18-2010 at 2:02 pm
Katie – in my experience, it was very hard to raise the babies in captivity. Then again I was a teenager at the time. :) If fed properly (the hard part — you have to constantly raise new live food that hatches fresh daily…) and kept in their own space, I think you could raise most of the babies to maturity — though that is a LOT of babies, yeah!
posted by Chris Higgins on 3-18-2010 at 6:51 pm