breed frequently in home aquariums. They are prone
to monogamous relationships. The
courtship ritual between seahorses is
arduous process that takes several days. Both seahorses’
colors will intensify
in the course of courtship. Courtship begins with them swimming side by
holding each other’s tails. They will wheel around in unison
as precursor to spawning. This display of affection has become known as
Eventually they will enter into the mating dance that will often
as long as 8 hours. During this time the male seahorse
will pump water into the
pouch on his truck. The egg pouch will expand and open to display its
emptiness to the female. They will then let go of their anchors and
upward snout to snout often spiraling around each other as they rise.
female will then use her ovipositor to insert her eggs into the
pouch for fertilization. The female's body will grow slimmer
as she releases
her eggs. The male’s body will swell accordingly from the
seahorses will then sink
back down to the bottom and the female will swim away. Scientists
ritual serves to synchronize the couple for the
and fertilization of the eggs.
fertilized eggs will become enveloped with tissue and embedded in the
pouch. The pouch will regulate oxygen to the eggs and act as an
chamber. The male’s body will begin producing a hormone
called prolactin. This
hormone is delivered directly into the pouch. Prolactin is the same
responsible for the production of milk in mammals. Prolactin will
nutrition for the newly hatched seahorses. The incubation period or
will last from
to 4 weeks depending
on the species.
female will visit the male every morning during the incubation period.
She will hold the male’s tail and they will wheel around
amongst the sea grass
fronds in their natural habitat for several minutes. Then she will
away until the next morning rolls around.
after the fry hatch the male’s body will undergo a series of
muscular contractions. These contractions will act to expel the newborn
his pouch. The average release of young is 100-200 newborns. The number
as low as 5 or 6 or as high as 1,500 depending on the particular
typically expel their young at night.
By morning the male is ready to begin the cycle all over again.
do not care for their young once they are released from the
protection of the brooding pouch. They are simply left to drift away in
currents. Fewer than 5 out of 1,000 newly born seahorses will survive
adulthood. As bad as these odds may appear, they are actually one of
survivability rates among aquatic saltwater species. The fact that the
secure in the protective environment of the male’s brooding
pouch until they
hatch is the most significant contributing factor toward their survival
Most marine species eggs are simply abandoned to be consumed by what
comes across them.