How a seahorse dad is like a pregnant woman | Science News (2024)

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How a seahorse dad is like a pregnant woman | Science News? ›

He might be an anomaly, but just like other male animals on planet Earth, male seahorses

In seahorses and pipefish, it is the male that gets pregnant and gives birth. Seahorse fathers incubate their developing embryos in a pouch located on their tail. The pouch is the equivalent of the uterus of female mammals. It contains a placenta, supporting the growth and development of baby seahorses.

As a person who is openly a “seahorse” dad (a term used when referring to transgender men who carry their own children; in nature, it is the male seahorse who carries babies), I have quickly realized that the assumption for most of society (a lot of transgender people included), is that when transgender men transition, ...

Sexing adult, fully mature seahorses in breeding condition is normally simple and straightforward — the males have a brood pouch slung under their abdomens at the base of their tails and the females do not.

Just because the eggs hatch and are cared for by him don't make him a female.. He produces spermatozoon to fertilize the females eggs.

Seahorses and their close relatives, sea dragons, are the only species in which the male gets pregnant and gives birth. Male seahorses and sea dragons get pregnant and bear young—a unique adaptation in the animal kingdom.

Common tenrecs have loads of babies

Firstly, they produce the most offspring of any mammal, having up to 30 babies at a time. Secondly, they have the most nipples of any species of mammal - a staggering 36 of them!

Once seahorses wrap their tail around something, they will hardly give up. That's why seahorses are a great symbol of persistence and patience. Seahorses remind us of the importance of a support system or someone to rely on when the “waves” get too rough.

Male Seahorses Get Pregnant and Give Birth

Instead of growing their babies inside a uterus like human moms do, seahorse dads carry their babies in a pouch. Their pouch provides oxygen and nutrients, as well as regulates temperature, blood flow, and salinity for the developing eggs.

Animals that change sex

Often found nestled amid anemones in coral reefs, clownfish are instantly recognizable. But did you know that male clownfish can become female? Groups of clownfish are led by a female, while the second-in-command fish is male.

Do seahorse males give birth? ›

He might be an anomaly, but just like other male animals on planet Earth, male seahorses produce sperm instead of eggs. The female seahorse impregnates the male by inserting her eggs into a pouch on the front of his tail, into which he releases sperm to fertilize the eggs and incubate the babies for 24 days.

Seahorses have two sexes. One has mobile gametes, the other gives live birth. I imagine that a biologist who discovered the seahorse would initially call the first "male" and the second "female".

Seahorses are not one of those animals who change their sex. The female lays the eggs and the male carries the fertilized eggs on his back. They remain male and female.

Why do male sea horses become pregnant? By passing the eggs to her mate, the female can invest her energies in producing more eggs immediately after transferring the previous batch – so almost as soon as the male gives birth he becomes pregnant again.

A female seahorse places up to 2,000 eggs inside a pouch on the male's abdomen. The eggs grow there for two to four weeks. As the eggs develop, the father barely moves. After the eggs hatch, the babies stay in his pouch to grow and develop a little more.

During courtship, the male seahorse does a little situp-style dance, crunching and expanding his abdomen to let water into his brood pouch. He does the same thing when he goes into labor, pressing and relaxing his abdomen until his thousands of little babies spew forth.

The male seahorse fertilized the eggs and is now a proud father, carrying anywhere from 5-2,000 babies in his pouch, depending on the species. In here, these offspring will get all the food and oxygen they need to develop.