You may have heard that male seahorses give birth to young. But have you ever wondered why and how this happens? Let's dive into it.
All the male species of Syngnathidae(animals with fused jaws) family give birth to young. It is family of fish which includes seahorses, seadragons and pipefishes. Like all male animals male seahorses also produce sperms, but the female seahorse impregnates the male. Male seahorses have pouch at the tail which is much more like a uterus in females. After a male and female seahorse spend time courting(males and females dance around one another and they may dance together over several days romantically with the intention of marrying) the female deposits eggs into the male's pouch into which male releases sperms to fertilize the eggs.
It takes about 20-30days for the babies to develop. After the babies are developed, the male squeeze all of them out of the pouch. Some seahorses can even produce more than 2000 babies at a time. After he has given birth, the seahorse dad does nothing more for his babies. They must look after themselves and hide from predators.The seahorse father does not eat until several hours after he has given birth. However, if the babies are still hanging around him after that and when the male don't get enough food, they(babies) may become a tasty meal.
Of the hundreds of babies only one or two will survive to become adults.
So, seahorses must reproduce as quickly as possible to maintain their population and therefore the male seahorse takes the job of giving birth, while the female keep on producing eggs for the next reproduction.