When you think of creatures with a pouch, you probably think of the kangaroo. But there’s a fish that has a pouch for its young, and even more surprising, the pouch is found on the male! It’s the male sea horse.
The male sea horse has a small pouch near his tail. The female sea horse deposits her eggs, up to 200 at one time, in the male’s pouch, which is then sealed with a sticky secretion. The male carries around the eggs with him for about 45 days.
Then, when the eggs are ready to hatch, the male sea horse hooks his tail onto a piece of seaweed and sways back and forth with the water currents. These movements force his pouch open, and the baby sea horses then swim out.
Sea horses can live as long as six years!
Related Posts
-
How Does the Pelican Use Its Pouch?
The pelican has a long beak and an enormous elastic pouch connected to its underside. The pelican uses its pouch to feed itself and its young. Living by the shore, this bird's diet…
-
Who were the Young Lords and Where did the the Young Lords come from?
The Young Lords were a Puerto Rican student activist group in New York City in the 1960s. Through protests and demonstrations, they forced the city to pay attention to the educational needs of…
-
Why Does the Kangaroo Have a Pouch?
The kangaroo, now the national symbol of Australia, belongs to the group of mammals called marsupials, meaning "pouched." Female kangaroos have a pouch, like a bag with an elastic top, in which they…
-
Do Fish Have Blood and Hearts, What Color Is Fish Blood, and Why Don’t Fish In Stores Have Blood?
Fish do have blood, and it is red. Other cold-blooded animals, like amphibians and reptiles, also have red blood. Fish have a circulatory system with blood and a heart as the pump just…
-
Why Does a Young Penguin Stick Its Head in Its Mother’s Mouth?
Almost all young birds get their food directly from their mother, and the penguin is no exception. But the mother penguin not only provides her young with food, she partially digests it for…
-
What Fish Catches Other Fish with Its Own Built-In Rod and Reel?
The frogfish is an unusual creature because of the way it catches its food. Long threads that look like fishing lines grow out of the frogfish's head. At the end of these threads…
