Chris Higgins
The Late Movies: Male Seahorses Giving Birth
by Chris Higgins - March 17, 2010 - 10:00 PM

The Late Movies

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!

Babies A-Poppin’

This video shows a Hippocampus reidi giving birth in spurts.

The Pea-Shooter Technique

This H. erectus seahorse delivers babies individually, with Elvis-the-Pelvis action.

Yes, More

I think this is another H. reidi. A very clear video.

Seahorse Mating Dance (w/Enya Soundtrack)

Two H. subelongatus engage in a courtship dance.

More Enya Seahorse Mating

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!

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Comments (5)
  1. kind of disturbing. haha. in all seriousness its very interesting!

  2. The babies are so tiny – how do they keep from being sucked up in the filter?

  3. Stina — they don’t. Usually seahorse keepers turn off filters or cover them with fine mesh when babies are present.

  4. do all of the babies usually survive? Seems like that woudl be a crowded tank!

  5. 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!

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