• Question: Why is it that the male sea-horse carries the babies instead of the female?

    Asked by lozsciencegleek to MarkF, Mark, Michael, Panos, Sarah on 22 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Mark Fogg

      Mark Fogg answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      I think it’s simply an evolutionary adaptation to protect the eggs and young as long as possible. It probably guarantees a higher percentage survival rate than a random scattering, indicated by the fact they still do it after a few million years of evolution.
      Like all fish, the Seahorse lays eggs, unlike many other fish the female seahorse doesn’t scatter them about randomly, but in the male’s pouch instead. So long as the male doesn’t get eaten, the eggs will survive to hatch.

      I’ve just had a poke around on the web and there’s some really good and detailed explanations about Seahorses. Have a look, try Googling ‘why does the male seahorse carry the babies’ 🙂

    • Photo: Sarah Burl

      Sarah Burl answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Male seashorses are unique in the animal kingdom as they carry the young in their pouch. Why this is the case in evolutionary terms I have no idea but makes a lot of sense to me if that happend in the human world!

    • Photo: Michael Loughlin

      Michael Loughlin answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      I don’t know the female lays the eggs in the pouch of the male who looks after them…Well penguin males often look after the eggs females have laid through the winter

      we aren’t sure why certainly the roles of male and female are not completely reversed..the males still compete for the attention of the ladies…so it is a puzzle

    • Photo: Panos Soultanas

      Panos Soultanas answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Because it has a brood pouch on its front. The female leaves her eggs in the pouch and the eggs then get fertilized inside the pouch. The young seahorses develop within the pouch for protection. I guess it is the way they have evolved to ensure efficient protection of the young in the particular environment they live in.

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