Pregnant Dad

One of our male seahorses is looking decidedly "pregnant".  That's right.  The female seahorses make the eggs, but it's the male seahorse that carries those eggs in a special pouch and has the babies!  

Apparently a large belly makes you attractive in Seahorse world as this is where the males carry the eggs during their development.  When they're born the babies can only live for a short time without eating.  So we'll keep some of the babies alive with the efforts of our volunteers who are breeding little planktonic creatures for the young seahorses to eat.

If successful we’ll have a “stable” of babies on display in the next few weeks.  Watch this space.