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Why Do Male Seahorses Give Birth ?
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Read more about the spectacular life such as why male Seahorses give birth in our oceans in our marine life blogs. Did you know that Christmas Tree Worms are a bit like an iceberg? Most of the body is hidden under the surface of the sub straight! Click here to read some fascinating facts about Christmas Tree Worms.[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Seahorse - Hippocampus
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A firm photographers favourite the Seahorse is unique looking and a master of camouflage. There are at least 54 species of Seahorse in the world with new ones being found continually as well as subspecies. It is difficult to estimate as individuals of the same species do vary widely with respect appearance. Species can be located in both temperate and tropical waters such as Thailand and Australia.
They favouring environments where they can “hang on” with the prehensile tail, these can be coral reefs, seagrasses or mangrove forests. They tend to be found in shallow water but can move deeper if sea conditions are rough.
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Seahorses are fish !
By definition, as they live in water, have a swim bladder and breath with gills. But they do not have caudal fins and do have a prehensile tail used to prevent them from being pushed away by strong currents. Seahorses vary in size depending on the species. The pygmy at 1cm is the smallest to species found at over 20cm in length that is the largest found so far. And every size between. They do not have scales but rather an exoskeleton so a hard external bony plate that has fused to cover their flesh. A colour change can occur quite quickly to blend with their environment for protection against predators, so this cannot be used to identify them, this is also used in the courtship rituals.
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Their eyes are independent and located on either side of the head. So they can look both forward and backwards simultaneously, useful for hunting. Because of their unusual shape, they are poor swimmers. A seahorses dorsal fin has to beat 20 to 70 times per second to propel them. The pictorial fins located on the side of the head used for direction. Often they can be found linked as pairs by the tail swimming upright trying to avoid predators by camouflaging as plants.
The effort required for them in strong seas often causes death by exhaustion, so they rarely swim. They are most commonly found anchored to a substrate via their tails resting and feeding.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
No teeth...
They have no teeth or stomach, and the food passed very quickly through their system, meaning they have to eat to stay alive constantly. Seahorses can consume more than 3,000 particles of food per day. Typically the diet consists of plankton, small crustaceans and tiny fish. The long snout is expandable if needed and used to search nooks and crannies for food. They can also suck food from up to 3cm away that is passing by.
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Why do male seahorses give birth?
Territory of Female seahorses is around 100 m sq with males having around half of that, but they do overlap.
Scientists are unsure if they are monogamous for life, or just for a breeding season, but they do have a strong bond at this time. During the breeding season, their courtship begins with an early morning meeting and courtship displays. The female joins the male in his territory where he then circles her changing colour, and they can both also spiral around an object. This lasts up to an hour at a time before she moves back to her territory.
Another unique fact is that the male is the one who becomes pregnant. The female places between 50 and 1500 eggs (depending on the size) into his pouch. This allows the female to produce more eggs while the male completes the gestation. The male moves the eggs into position by “wiggling” them and moves to an anchor point to wait. The pregnancy lasts between 2 and four weeks. When the eggs hatch into “fry” the male ejects them by contorting his body to expel fully formed seahorses into the water. Between 5 or 1500 can be born to anyone pregnancy. The odds of survival are very low, with only 1 in 1000 reaching adulthood due to predators.
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Threats natural and human
The natural predators are few due to the bony exterior but they include crabs, but by far the largest predator is humans.
There are three main threats to the seahorse which includes the destruction of their natural habitat.
Aquariums also remove seahorses from the ocean, it is estimated 1 million per year. All this despite mo ofst them not surviving for more than six weeks in captivity. They suffer from high levels of stress and often disease in the artificial environment.
The traditional Chinese medicine and souvenir market also removes many seahorses from their natural environment, with 150 million removed in 1 year for the medicinal trade only.
Because they are hard to find in the wild, population sizes may not be well-known for many species.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Images were provided by Debbie Arriaga @OurOceanImages[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]