LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE BOYS!

Seahorses are fish (yes, fish!) with a prehensile tail to grasp aquatic plants and a tube-like mouth to suck up small crustaceans.  I especially like seahorses because the males are the ones that give birth.  That brings all new meaning to the term “baby daddy”.  When it is time to mate, a male and female begin a courtship dance.  They apparently repeat this dance, rendezvousing in the early dawn for days, until the day they mate.  The female penetrates the male with a penis-like protrubance and releases her eggs into his brood pouch where the eggs are fertilized.  The male, now “knocked-up”, will carry up to 2,000 babies for up to 45 days before giving birth.  The female checks on him daily and he will puff up as the due date gets closer.  Puffing up is thought to help keep predators away from the baby daddy.  The male will eventually give birth through a process that looks like his is pumping his tail.  The baby seahorses will go on their way and be independent.  The female may “egg” him the next day after birth, continuing the process.