How a seahorse gives birth. Pipefish and pipefish are caring parents Mating and spawning

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Report about the seahorse

Seahorses belong to the class of bony fish. There are about 50 species in total. Seahorses can range in size from 2 to 30 cm, depending on the species. An ordinary seahorse can live 5 years.

Their body shape is similar to a chess piece of a knight. Numerous long spines and ribbon-like leathery outgrowths located on the skate’s body make it invisible among the algae and inaccessible to predators.

The habitat of seahorses is tropical and subtropical seas.

Seahorse description

The head of these fish is similar to that of a horse, but there are no scales. Their body is covered with hard bony plates. With its tail bent forward, the seahorse clings to the stems of sea grass like a monkey. A seahorse's eyes rotate in any direction, and if one eye is looking to the right, the other may be looking at something to the left at the same time. This is very convenient for the skate, since it can simultaneously inspect the algae from all sides in search of food and keep an eye on the enemies, who themselves would not mind eating it.

The seahorse does not like to swim and spends most of its life with its tail caught in algae. Swims slowly and only in search of food, during weddings and to escape from enemies.

It's interesting to watch a seahorse swim. A large swim bladder located in the skate's head helps it maintain an upright position. It does not move horizontally, but jerks up and down, moving diagonally in the direction of the target.

What do seahorses eat?

Seahorses lead a bottom-dwelling lifestyle, feeding on plankton and small invertebrates.

Reproduction of seahorses

These animals also have an unusual method of reproduction. When the eggs reach the desired stage, the females begin to compete with each other for male attention. Having achieved favor, the female lays part of the eggs in a special sac, which is located on the male’s abdomen. There the eggs are fertilized. The male carries the eggs until the young hatch. There can be from 2 to 1000 individuals. If many cubs are born, their father may even die. During the breeding season, fry hatch every 4 weeks. Immediately after birth, they are left to their own devices.

Interesting facts about seahorses

• The pipit is very bony, so it is hunted only by large land crabs that can digest it.
• Seahorses' eyes are similar to those of chameleons and can move independently of each other;
• The seahorse is a master of camouflage. Their scales can become “invisible” - merge with the environment;
• Their mouth works like a vacuum cleaner - they suck up plankton to eat.

We hope the information presented about the seahorse helped you. You can leave your report about the seahorse using the comment form.

Did you know that male seahorses give birth to children??? and got the best answer

Answer from Marina Olekhnovich[guru]
I knew.

Answer from Cool wind[master]
What does a woman do?

Answer from Evgeniy Kostromin[guru]
He carries them in a special bag on his body

Answer from Olga Bezrukova[guru]
He does not give birth to them, in the literal sense of the word. He carries the eggs, which are given to him by the female. The fry hatch in the male's pouch and emerge.

Answer from Artyom Loginov[newbie]
She does not give birth but carries them on her body; the female fertilizes the eggs on the male’s body and he carries them on himself

Answer from Olga Trofimova[guru]
no, I didn't know, thanks

Answer from Anatoly Petunin[guru]
Zoology had to be taught at school. although what kind of school is it now? Discovery look - a lot of interesting things

Answer from Alexa Khokhlova[guru]
The most unique feature of seahorses is reproduction. A very controversial question is who, a female or a male, gives birth to cubs. In any case, the male carries the fry. On his stomach, near the anus, there are two folds of skin fused into a pouch. During the breeding season, this bag thickens and is pierced with blood vessels: this is how the male prepares to receive eggs and feed the embryos. At the same time, the female’s cloaca extends, forming a genital papilla, through which the eggs are introduced into the male’s pouch. The courtship process among pipits includes song and dance. During the mating season, seahorses sing. In any case, they make rather low sounds, reminiscent of snapping fingers. These songs intensify during the breeding season. The skate dance involves ritual walks “arm in arm” (with their tails intertwined) and graceful twirlings among the seaweed. Then the fish press against each other, at this moment the male opens the bag wide and the female puts several eggs into it. After some time, the action is repeated with the same or with another chosen one, and again the bag is replenished with several eggs. This happens until the bag is filled to the brim. The number of embryos gestated in different species ranges from 20 to 1000. The size of the eggs is approximately 2 mm. The duration of development is 20–28 days.
In skates, like other fish, caviar has a reserve of nutrients (yolk), which means that the embryos have something to eat. However, a highly developed network of blood vessels was found in the walls of the bursa, functionally similar to the placenta of mammals. It can be assumed that the offspring feed not only on the yolk, but also on what the father’s blood brings them, as happens in mammals. That's why they say that the skates' mother and father switched roles. The male has a hard time with pregnancy and childbirth
This is how aquarists describe the birth of seahorses: “The pregnant male firmly grabbed the stem of the plant and began to make rhythmic movements, while simultaneously massaging the inflated belly with his muzzle. At this moment, the hole in the bag began to open little by little and several tails appeared from it. Through the thin wall of the bag one could see small heads with black eyes. Finally, one of the tails got ahead of the others and stuck out almost halfway, and a minute later, through the efforts of the pushing father, the first cub jumped out of the bag. So, with hard work, the male emptied the bag in a few minutes." But even after the fry hatch, the male carries them in the bag for some time. Bending his body upward, he opens the bag, and the fry come out of it, but in case of danger they hide there again.
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Among unusual fish, the seahorse is particularly unusual: it is difficult to recognize it as a fish. Let's talk a little about seahorses - how are they different from their other brothers from the class of fish?

Almost all fish swim the same way: the body is located horizontally and in the direction of movement. In seahorses, when swimming, the body is vertical, or slightly tilted forward. The strange way in which seahorses position their bodies when swimming is associated with the structure of these fish.

Fins and swim bladder

In most fish we see several fins: dorsal, caudal, anal, paired abdominal and paired pectoral. Seahorses have half as many fins: they have only three fins that help them move in the water:

• A very small fan-shaped dorsal fin is necessary for forward locomotion.
• Tiny pectoral fins help maintain vertical balance and control movement.

The swim bladder helps them support their body vertically. It is located along the entire body, its front part extends into the head, which is typical only for this fish.

The swim bladder is divided into two parts. The volume of the head part of the bladder is noticeably larger than the abdominal part. It is this structure of the swim bladder that contributes to the vertical position of the skate when swimming. The seahorse is designed like a float: the upper part of the body is lighter than the lower part. The center of gravity is shifted downwards - to the tail part of the body, so the head is lighter and is located at the top.

Reproduction: Ritual morning greetings and male color changes

How seahorses reproduce - the incredible and strange uniqueness of this amazing fish. The male and female seem to have switched roles - the male carries and gives birth to the cubs. Scientists learned about this quite recently - in the last century.

Before talking about reproduction, you need to pay attention to the external integument of the seahorses:

• The body of seahorses is covered on top with bony plates that form very strong, spiny armor. This is a real shell that is difficult to break even in dead fish.
• The female's body is completely covered with bony plates, while the male has no plates at the base of the abdomen. Because here is a voluminous leathery pocket in which he bears his offspring.

Reproduction of seahorses living in tropical seas has interesting behavioral features. Early in the morning, males perform ritual greetings: each male swims around his chosen one, as if demonstrating readiness to reproduce. It is noted that at these moments the male’s shell in the chest area turns dark. With his head bowed, he moves in circles around the female, his tail slightly touching the bottom.

What about the female? She reacts to this behavior of the male - she begins to spin around herself after the male, but does not move from her place. During the breeding season, the greeting ritual is repeated every morning. Having completed this peculiar dance, the couple begins to have breakfast. The fish remain in a limited area and try to keep each other in sight. The closer the moment of mating, the longer the greeting ritual becomes and can even last the whole day.

In temperate latitudes, male seahorses during the breeding season inflate their leathery pouch so that the skin becomes very stretched and becomes almost white.

Mating and spawning

We continue to explore the process of how seahorses reproduce and how mating occurs:

• Mating requires that the male and female mature at the same time.
• On the day of mating, during the greeting ritual, at a certain moment the female sharply raises her head and swims upward.
• The male moves after her. At this moment, the female’s ovipositor is clearly visible, and the male’s pouch opens wide.
• The female directs the ovipositor into the wide opening of the pouch and lays eggs there.
• The process of laying eggs occurs in several stages, each lasting a few seconds. The female lays eggs until the bag is completely filled (it can hold more than 600 eggs).

If one of the partners is not ready, spawning is interrupted and the whole process begins again. The number of eggs laid usually depends on the size of the male and the type of fish. Different species produce from 30 - 60 eggs to 500 or more per spawning. For example, a long-snouted seahorse: an aged 10-12 centimeter female can lay more than 650 eggs.

Let's talk a little about male seahorses:

• The male's readiness to mate is also manifested in a change in the internal state of the skin of the pocket: from the inside it becomes like a sponge filled with blood vessels.
• The large number of blood vessels on the inside of the bursa plays an important role in the development of eggs. This is an amazing feature of the structure of male seahorses!

When the eggs are laid and the pouch is completely filled with “priceless cargo,” the future daddy horse swims away with an inflated pocket, becoming like a unique “living stroller” filled with cubs.

The birth of small hippocampuses - seahorses

After 1-2 months, tiny fry are born - exact copies of their parents. The male squeezes his offspring through a special hole in the pouch. When pushing out the last baby, the father fish can sometimes experience very strong and noticeable “birth pangs.” Therefore, the birth of babies is a very exhausting process for the male.

Immediately after birth, seahorse fry become independent because they do not receive any help from their parents. They begin to feed immediately after leaving the pouch. Different species have different behavioral strategies: the fry of some species move with the flow, others remain in the place of birth.

Are seahorses monogamous?

For a long time it was believed that seahorses are monogamous - they mate with one permanent partner.

It is likely that early naturalists who observed this behavior in one or two species concluded that it was characteristic of all seahorses. Over time, observations by both amateur aquarists and ichthyologists have proven that this is a myth. Seahorses are not at all monogamous.

British ichthyologists studied the sexual behavior of seahorses of different species and saw that individual individuals can “flirt” with 25 different partners during the day. For example, only five pairs of British spiny seahorses were faithful to each other, but twelve pairs were not.

In the home aquarium, there have also been cases where a male accepted eggs from two females at the same time. It is likely that similar behavior during reproduction can be observed in nature too.

Signs of courtship in seahorses include color changes, synchronized swimming, and intertwining of tails.

Menu of seahorses in nature and in the aquarium

What do seahorses eat in the wild? Their food is tiny zooplankton (crustaceans). By type of feeding they are ambush predators:

• Having a camouflage camouflage, its tail caught in the algae, the fish stands vertically in the water and tracks down its prey.
• Having noticed the crustacean, the horse examines it for a couple of seconds, rolling its eyes in a funny way.
• Then he inflates his cheeks, so high pressure is created in his mouth.
• And immediately, like a vacuum cleaner, he pulls the crustacean into his mouth and swallows it.
• Prey can be retracted from a distance of 4 cm.

Seahorses feed up to 10 hours a day and can eat more than 3,000 thousand brine shrimp. In the aquarium, these voracious fish willingly eat shrimp, live and frozen mysids, artemia, daphnia, and bloodworms. It is recommended to feed them twice a day daily, and the food should be varied. On some brine shrimp, pipits may feel hungry.

The place of the seahorse in the fish system, the Red Book and 2 hryvnia

Seahorses are small sea fish, ranging in size from 2 to 30 cm. They belong to the phylum of chordates, the subphylum of vertebrates, the superclass of fish - the class of bony fish and the subclass of ray-finned fish, the order Stickleback, the family of spiny fish, the genus seahorses. The closest relatives of seahorses are pipefish, in which the male also bears the offspring.

Seahorses are currently on the verge of extinction. Many species are listed in the Red Book, for example the long-snouted seahorse from the Black Sea. This horse is depicted on a coin with a face value of 2 hryvnia, which was issued by the National Bank of Ukraine.

The massive catch of these exotic fish for making souvenirs has led to their complete disappearance in the Black Sea recreation areas. And since 1994, the Black Sea population of this species is listed in the Red Book of Ukraine, and its catching is prohibited.

Children really like seahorses. Make a “Seahorse” bookmark with your child and, while completing a creative task, study the features of the appearance of this amazing fish.

Seahorses are wonderful creatures that attract aquarists with their unusual appearance and charming habits. These animals require a salty and very clean water environment, which is one of the difficulties of keeping them at home.

Seahorse in an aquarium - appearance

The seahorse is unlike any other sea creature. A large belly, a horse's head, a nimble tail that grabs support, a manner of swimming in an upright position - all these are characteristic features of these animals, radically distinguishing them from all other inhabitants of the depths of the sea.

Erect seahorse ( Hippocampus erectus) is the most accessible and most often kept in the aquariums of beginner hobbyists. The species is distributed in the western part of the Atlantic Ocean, its habitat extends from northern Canada to the Caribbean Sea, representatives can be found in coastal waters near coral reefs, as well as near man-made structures such as piers and breakwaters.

This small creature can reach 15 cm from head to tail, the surface of the body is covered with circular leathery plates rather than fish scales. The horse deftly wraps its tenacious tail around suitable objects, holding on tightly, and spends most of its time this way, saving strength during the ebb and flow of the tides.

The upright seahorse is decorated with a lined transverse pattern, bright dots on the tail and a specific “saddle” pattern on the back.

This species is one of the most beloved in marine aquarium keeping and its representatives, as a rule, are successfully kept and reproduced in captivity. In the wild, these animals are considered rare or endangered due to the degradation of their natural habitat, popularity as souvenirs, and for use in folk medicine.

You should purchase a seahorse from breeders who raise and reproduce these animals in captivity, or from reputable pet stores. Individuals obtained in an artificial environment are distinguished by good health, the ability to consume frozen food and much better adaptability to the conditions of a new aquarium.

Seahorse in an aquarium - basic requirements

Seahorses are very attractive pets, but they are quite vulnerable and fragile creatures that require special conditions. One of the main requirements remains a fairly low temperature, which fluctuates around 21 °C, which is much lower than the temperature range for most aquarium fish.

The minimum volume of an aquarium for seahorses is 140-150 liters; one or two pairs of animals can be placed in such a tank. At the bottom there are several driftwood, as well as other objects for the skates to cling to, and secluded grottoes are provided. The surrounding aquatic environment should be free of injurious or potentially dangerous objects and creatures, including corals or anemones with their stinging cells.

A necessary condition for the normal life of skates is a constant flow of water. A good filter can ensure both water movement and the quality of the aquatic environment. The flow rate should be sufficient - within 10 revolutions of the entire volume of aquarium water per hour. If the speed is too high, the fragile, slow skates will have to constantly resist the current, which can weaken them, lead to exhaustion and even death. It is advisable to provide a couple of quiet harbors - places with minimal current, where animals can rest if desired.

Seahorses eat a lot, and the food, due to the imperfection of the digestive system of these animals, must be rich in proteins and fats. The result of vigorous vital activity and the digestion of large quantities of dense food is constantly polluted water, so it is important to pay attention to both mechanical and biological treatment using a variety of skimmers.

Seahorses tend to act slowly in everything, they also eat slowly and can stare at a shrimp for ten minutes, assessing whether it is worth making an effort for this prey, so life with active fish can be an unbearable test for seahorses. On top of this, fast fish frighten seahorses, forcing them to live in constant stress, which jeopardizes their health, well-being and reduces their ability to reproduce.

Peculiar pets can be placed with other calm, peace-loving and slow-moving fish, for example, blennies, as well as snails or small hermit crabs. And yet, most breeders prefer to keep their pets in a separate tank.

Features of feeding

Seahorses are quite picky and require a special diet. Unlike other aquarium inhabitants, these animals need to be fed by hand, and they eat quite a lot. Regular live shrimp and/or brine shrimp are good foods and can be supplemented with frozen Mysis shrimp. Another very important point that should be taken into account is that you cannot skip even one day of feeding; you must be sure to provide fresh food every day.

The slow feeding of seahorses makes it difficult to keep them at home, and this circumstance must be weighed by potential breeders, since feeding seahorses can become a big problem for a working person or put a question mark on a vacation trip.

The seahorse slowly collects its thoughts before eating the offered shrimp, and the owner needs to be patient, gradually feeding the prescribed portion of 6-8 pieces of shrimp twice a day, which takes at least twenty minutes. It is convenient to feed the skates using a regular medical syringe or a glass tube with a rubber nozzle, which will allow you to retract the shrimp rejected or lost by the skate.

It is more practical to feed your pets using a small container placed at the bottom, for example, a glass saucer, around which several plastic or bamboo rods are placed so that the skates have something to cling to. Once you feed the smart creatures by putting shrimp in the feeder several times, the skates will figure out what’s going on and begin to wait for feeding, gathering in the designated place.

Feeding seahorses

Seahorses in an aquarium - a little about breeding

Adult seahorses are beautiful and somewhat aristocratic creatures, with indescribable grace and regal condescension in all their manifestations, including the process of eating. And while watching the adults is very interesting, breeding seahorses and tracking the development and growth of the babies is even more exciting.

Few people know that seahorses are monogamous, forming one pair for life, which in itself is surprising, because the last thing you can expect is a tender and devoted relationship from such small sea creatures.

After the death or removal of a partner, a lonely seahorse will not be in a hurry to find a soul mate and may remain alone for the rest of its life. With the first rays of the morning sun, the couple begins to perform a special sea “dance”, using not only body movements, but also characteristic sounds to communicate. During preparation for mating or during the process itself, these sounds intensify and become almost continuous.

These animals reproduce in an absolutely amazing way. The female lays eggs, which are then transferred to a special marsupial fold on the male’s tail, where they are fertilized and at some point, miniature copies of their parents emerge from the pouch in an incredible variety. Thus, the male bears the young, which is a unique feature of these creatures.

Seahorses are relatively easy to breed and raise in captivity, and under optimal conditions, it is possible that one day the aquarium will be filled with a whole “herd of horses.”

Birth of baby seahorses

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The reproduction of seahorses that live in tropical seas and those inhabiting temperate latitudes differs slightly.

In tropical species, it is quite common to see males greeting females at first light, swimming around their darlings and probably confirming their readiness to reproduce. It is noticed that the male’s chest area turns dark; he bows his head and thus makes circles around the female, touching the bottom with his tail. The female does not move from her place, but rotates around her axis following the male. Male temperate seahorses, on the other hand, inflate their pouch, causing the taut skin to become almost white.

During the breeding season, this greeting ritual is repeated every morning, after which the pair proceeds to “breakfast”, remaining in a relatively limited area. At the same time, partners try not to let each other out of sight. As the moment of mating approaches, the greeting ritual continues throughout the day.

It is very important that the fish mature at the same time. On the day when mating occurs, the ritual becomes more frequent. At some point, the female suddenly raises her head and begins to swim upward, and the male follows her. At this stage, the female's ovipositor becomes visible and the male's pouch opens. The female inserts the ovipositor into the opening of the pouch and lays eggs within a few seconds.

If one of the partners is not ready, then spawning is interrupted and everything starts again. The number of eggs depends, as a rule, on the size of the male (it can be a small, young male, or an adult specimen) and on the type of fish. Some species produce from 30 to 60 eggs per spawning, others - about 500 or more. Synchronization is important

For mating, it is very important that the reproductive products of both partners mature at the same time. In long-established pairs, mating occurs without a hitch at any time of the day, while in newly formed pairs, one of the partners must wait for the other and remain in “full readiness” for several days.

The moment of hatching of the fry is also extremely important for many fish. Seahorses navigate the high and low tides when the current is strongest and can guarantee widespread distribution of offspring. The tides are regulated by the lunar cycle and are particularly intense during the full moon. Therefore, it is not surprising that seahorses reproduce most actively during certain phases of the moon.

The species I was observing showed reproductive activity during the full moon, and the birth of the fry - four weeks after spawning - again occurred on the full moon, and a few days later the males were ready to accept a new clutch. During the breeding season, spawning was repeated every four weeks.

The fry hatched in their father's pouch and immediately left it. A lot of fry appear at the same time, which forces the male from time to time to bend his body forward in order to push them out. Seahorse fry are left to their own devices, since after hatching their parents stop caring for them.

In some species, the fry lead a pelagic lifestyle and drift with the current, while in others they remain in one place. In close relatives of the pipefish, the reproduction process is essentially the same, but seahorses are the only members of their family that completely hide their eggs in their skin. The rest use folds of skin that cover the caviar or attach it to special depressions in the body.

The reason for such care of seahorses for their offspring may be that in the thickets of grass where fish live, a large number of invertebrates live, for which eggs serve as food.

In free-swimming pipefish and dragonfish, such contact rarely occurs, so there is no need for additional protection of the offspring. Evolution of role reversal But how did the role reversal occur, as a result of which males of species of the family Syngnathidae began to bear eggs?

This, of course, can only be guessed at, but if you take a closer look at fish of related families with a normal reproduction process, a definite conclusion arises about how everything could have been.

Like many fish, the ancestors of synnatids probably spawned like this: the male and female moved upward synchronously and simultaneously released eggs and milt. After fertilization, the eggs were carried by the current, or they settled and stuck, for example, to the stems of sea grass. If such “sticky” eggs developed successfully and the fry from them survived, then it can be assumed that in subsequent generations the stickiness only increased. And then, probably, individual eggs were glued to the male's abdomen, which gave them the best chance of survival and protection from predators.

If everything was so, then in the process of evolution fish improved such “care for offspring.”

Seahorses became the first fish in marine aquariums in Japan and Europe. Many species are not only successfully kept in captivity, but also reproduce, but this requires a lot of effort and time. There is not a single line in scientific publications about keeping and breeding skates in aquariums, but reports about this appear in aquarium magazines, which, however, are not widely distributed.

Personally, I wrote an article about aquarium breeding of sea dragons from caviar, that is, about fish that are considered unsuitable for an aquarium. After it appeared in a recognized magazine, these fish and their breeding methods very quickly became objects of interest, especially for public aquariums.

Live food

Many aquarists breed seahorses, and many public aquariums breed these fish. This mainly occurs in Europe, Japan and Singapore.

Interestingly, many people breed the Australian species H. abdominalis, a fairly large skate that easily adapts to captivity conditions.

I have been able to propagate H. whitei from Sydney and H. abdominalis and H. breviceps from Melbourne. In principle, everything is not so difficult. All that is needed is good sea water, an aquarium, decorations that imitate a natural biotope, and a regular supply of high-quality food for the fish.

The latter can be a problem, especially if the hobbyist does not have good and sufficiently nutritious frozen food. I had a similar situation, so every second day I had to go to the sea and dive to catch food for my skates.

But with so much effort, breeding these fish was not difficult.

I started in 1980 by breeding H. breviceps and H. abdominalis, with the goal of photographing the birth of the fry. However, as it soon became clear, this task was not at all easy. I still could not get to the right moment and usually discovered the hatched fry in the morning hours. It took several months before I managed to catch the moment of “birth”, which proceeds very quickly.

"One-Eyed Bandit"

In 1992, I decided to take tropical seahorse species more seriously. I caught four male and three female H. whitei in Sydney Harbour. One of the males was one-eyed, and another was “pregnant.”

I planted them in an aquarium with an area of ​​one square meter and a height of 50 cm. The water temperature was just over 20°C - an absolutely normal indicator for this species. Of all the animals, only two formed a pair and, seven days after the birth of the fry, began mating; the remaining “non-pregnant” males began to court all the females in a row.

The one-eyed male did not lag behind the others and increasingly won the attention of one of the females bearing eggs, but in the subsequent “dance ritual”, describing circles around his chosen one, he suddenly lost sight of her.

As far as I can tell, he didn't have a successful mating. The males also tried to expel their friend, thereby getting rid of competitors. They bit their rivals, which was accompanied by a clicking sound. Such behavior prevented the pipits, who had not yet mated, from “tuning in” to each other: once, for example, eggs fell past the male’s pouch.

Often males with dark chests chased females, but there was no noticeable reaction from the latter. Once a one-eyed male began to “besiege” a very large female with a large amount of eggs, which, however, did not reciprocate his feelings and found herself another male. True, he showed no interest in her.

The following year, partners often changed each other, and the males continued to see each other only as rivals. For example, one who had just given birth to fry began to besiege another “pregnant” male, who initially hid behind “his” female, but was later driven out by a burst of furious clicking.

1000 fry per season

At intervals of four weeks, my skates gave birth to fry, which I raised in a community aquarium. They grew very quickly, but for this I had to regularly catch food in the ocean that the fry could swallow.

The number of fry was so large that I could not leave them all in the aquarium, therefore, after growing up the fry, I released them into the ocean, approximately from 50 to 200 individuals per month. At birth, the length of the fry reached 12 mm, and within two weeks they doubled in size.

A year later, the health of my “savages” deteriorated and they stopped spawning. On average, each pair produced 80 fry per month, that is, more than 1000 during the year. Interestingly, the reproductive activity of pairs increased, as in nature, during the full moon. Soon the few fry that I had left for myself began to reproduce.

"Eternal love"?

My intensive studies in breeding seahorses were prompted not only by my own desire to observe the mating and birth of fish, but also by numerous requests from other aquarists who were interested in these processes.

I could not find an explanation for much of what I saw. For example, during a strong storm, all the skates gathered at the top of the stem of sea grass, forming something like a vine. And the matings themselves were fraught with a few surprises.

For example, my seahorses turned out to be not as monogamous as described in the literature!

While photographing a species of H. breviceps one day, I noticed how one of the females intervened at the moment of mating and transferred her eggs to the male’s already open pouch. Another time, the male accepted eggs from two females at once.

And although these observations were made in an aquarium, I am sure that similar things happen in nature. It seems to me that the assumption of monogamy in seahorses has no basis. Observations in natural conditions last a short time and do not give even a hint of how animals will behave in a year.

Mating requires synchronized maturation, and in this sense, pipits are no different from other reef fish, so I can imagine that during the height of the breeding season it is very difficult to find a new partner.

In such conditions, it is quite advisable for partners to remain together throughout the entire breeding season.

However, for most, if not all, species, caring for offspring is a “seasonal job”, and this season depends on changes in climate in the relevant geographical area.

In the tropics, pipits begin spawning immediately after the rainy period, and in subtropical zones in the spring, when there should be enough food in the water for the young. After the breeding season, the animals seem to go their separate ways and go (or better yet, swim) their own way. Some species migrate to other zones, often to depths. Sometimes at this time I came across reefs on which there were only males or only females, so it seems to me that in nature, seahorses form their pairs only at the beginning of the breeding season.