Seahorses are certainly one of the unique creatures on the planet, being a member of the pipefish family. Not just their iconic appearance but seahorses also possess many interesting attributes. Among them are specialized structures in their skin cells, called chromatophores, which allow the mostly sessile seahorses to change colour to mimic their surroundings. Due to their camouflage, they are hard to be seen in the sea.
But one of the most remarkable biological claims to fame they own is that male seahorses and sea dragons can get pregnant and bring a new young seahorse to life; this is a unique adaptation in the animal kingdom. The female seahorse transfers her mature eggs into the male’s brood pouch which later gets fertilised in the male seahorse.
At the end of a gestation period usually lasting from two to four weeks, the male abdominal area begins to undulate rhythmically, and strong muscular contractions eject which later become a range of a few dozen to as many as 1,000 fully formed baby seahorses into the surrounding water. In these Large litters, only about 0.5 per cent will survive to adulthood.
As seahorses live in shallow, near-coastal waters, their life cycle is disturbed by human activities including development, pollution, fisheries, and traditional medicine; this all sums up and reduces their population. The seahorses have universal appeal and are often captured for the aquarium trade. The delicate creatures tend to fare poorly in aquaria.
The baby seahorse does not get any parental care and usually does not survive after birth but the care and protection by seahorse males help to yield a high survival rate for baby seahorses. From that, we can conclude that the Male seahorses are putting in much effort to keep their species alive. Unfortunately, there are many human-caused threats which are reducing the seahorse populations.