Animals have strange and unique ways of ensuring their survival and reproduction of their species, seahorses have one of the most unique ways of reproducing as they have males conceiving and delivering offspring. This method of reproduction goes against the traditional method of reproduction which has the female conceiving and delivering offspring, making seahorses very unique.
The National Geographic article below dives deeper into the process of reproduction that seahorses partake in. It states that the female seahorse transfers her eggs into the males pouch and the male fertilize the eggs. A seahorse pregnancy usually lasts between 10-25 days and shortly after birth, the seahorses are ready to reproduce again. Unfortunately, only approximately 5 out of every 1000 seahorses survive due to poor parental support and harsh environmental factors
Due to the fact that so many newborn seahorses don’t survive, this method of reproduction seems to be the most effective way to reproduce in order to ensure seahorses survival. The fact that eggs are already ready to be fertilized right after the male gives birth, means that they’re constantly reproducing, in turn increasing their chances of survival as a species.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/pages/article/seahorse-fathers-take-reins-in-childbirth
Tikweze Namadzunda (2)
I found your post interesting because I wasn't aware that male seahorses gave birth rather than the traditional female pregnancy. Interestingly, seahorses are an r-selected species, which produce a lot of offspring, but with low parental care and therefore, low survival rate.
ReplyDelete- Brianna Bailey
DeleteHi! Great article! I was wondering if there is more information on why this method of reproduction is so effective for seahorses. Thanks, Sarah Conant
ReplyDeleteI liked your post a lot because I alwasy thought the reproduction of sea horses being opposite of most other species was interesting. Like the comment above, I am wondering why exactly seahorses reproduce this way, what makes it more effective ve than normal reproduction?
ReplyDelete- Jess Ross
I always love hearing about seahorses. In high school, I had a science teacher who actually got seahorses & had them mate! It was so cool seeing the little babies afterwards, and they are a lot smaller than you'd think!
ReplyDeleteI'm just curious, if seahorses usually have such a low survival rate, is there any research pointing to why there hasn't been an adaption to this low survival rate, to ensure better reproduction rates for this species?
-Emma Alderman-Shapiro
Wow, I did not know that many seahorses don't survive birth. I know little about seahorses so this was a good read!
ReplyDelete-Lara Pereira
It makes sense that the male seahorses give birth to maximize the chances of survival. I had no idea the survival rates were so low.
ReplyDelete-Morianna Saint-Cyr
Hi Tikweze,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your blog post. I found it really interesting because people don't really hear about seahorses. This made me think about SpongeBob's seahorse! I also found the fact that male seahorses give birth, this is such a crazy thing to think about!!
Kristina Baldeo
Hi! Loved your blog topic! Seahorses have always been so interesting to me and the fact that the males are the ones who give birth make them even more fascinating. It was interesting to learn exactly why males are the ones who give birth. I wonder exactly how the female transfers her eggs to the male's pouch.
ReplyDeleteHello, this was a very interesting article for me because I already knew make seahorses gave birth rather than female resources, but I always wondered the science behind it.
ReplyDelete- Tugba Kahveci