Of course, it is the female seahorse that is the real mother, producing and laying eggs. The difference is that she lays the eggs in a special pouch on the male seahorse’s body. The babies develop inside the pouch and emerge when they are fully developed. As they emerge, it looks as though they are being born from the male seahorse.
Seahorses and their close relatives the pipefish and the seadragons are very unusual, because it is the males that get pregnant and give birth to the babies. Instead of growing the baby seahorses inside their belly in a uterus, like human mums do, the seahorse dads will carry the babies in a pouch, a bit like a kangaroo’s pouch.
To produce babies, seahorses have to mate first. Seahorse mating is really beautiful. Males and females dance around one another and flutter their fins, and they may dance together over several days before they actually mate.
When they’ve decided they like each other, the seahorse females swim towards the surface of the water, and the males follow. The females then put their bright orange eggs into the pouch of the males through the hole at the top of the pouch. Once the eggs are safely inside, the males will add their sperm and shut the opening. The eggs are fertilized by the sperm, and then start developing into baby seahorses.
With that, the job of the seahorse mum is done! She swims off, and leaves the father to take care of the growing babies. Inside the pouch, the babies grow eyes, tiny snouts, and little tails. It takes about 20 days for the babies to develop, safely tucked away from other animals that might want to eat them.
Picture Credit : Google