How Male Seahorses Evolved to Give Birth

Male pregnant seahorses give birth to around a thousand babies. Seahorses come from the family Syngnathidae, which also includes seadragons and pipefish. They're the only animals in which the males get pregnant. After females transfer eggs, the males then fertilise them. But why do male seahorses give birth? And how did this way of reproduction evolve?
All images and videos used herein are 1) in the public domain, 2) used under a Creative Commons license, 3) used with a license, or 4) used under the parameters of Fair Use law
Credits:
liquidguru. vimeo.com/4953...
liquidguru. vimeo.com/4248...
Klaus Stiefel. flic.kr/p/dot8ns
Tesk0002. commons.wikime...
References:
Whittington CM & Friesen CR. The evolution and physiology of male pregnancy in syngnathid fishes. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2020;95:1252-1272.
Roth O, et al. Evolution of male pregnancy associated with remodeling of canonical vertebrate immunity in seahorses and pipefishes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020;117:9431-9439.
Wilson AB, et al. Male pregnancy in seahorses and pipefishes (family Syngnathidae): rapid diversification of paternal brood pouch morphology inferred from a molecular phylogeny. J Hered 2001;92:159-166.
#wildlife #nature #seahorse

[@frankenscience3802]

Please like, comment and subscribe if you enjoy the video!

[@chloevalleau1650]

What are your sources?

[@JustAboutAnything66]

I have a thriving population of Fathead Minnows in my garden pond. Every summer, when the water gets warm enough for eggs to incubate, the male Fathead Minnow finds and spruces up a little cave around the water's edge. He then entices a female to come lay eggs in his cave. If she likes him, they dance around just outside the cave, and then she goes in and lays eggs inside. He fertilizes the eggs and protects them with his life. He is not pregnant. It does not matter where the cave is located, it does not mean he is pregnant. Just because the "cave" is inside the seahorse, that doesn't make him pregnant. Claiming a male seahorse is pregnant because of how he protects his spawn is like saying a female kangaroo is pregnant every time the joey climbs back into the pouch.

[@daydreaming2113]

The seahorse looked like he were sneezing his kids out 😂 cute

[@gopract8246]

Indeed 😂😂

[@gigidotto9014]

If only it was that easy for human women to push babies out😂

[@crimeinfoja7184]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@AsipheTsita]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@gonzalogutierrez510]

"... some eggs can be lost... " I know almost nothing about seahorses (prior to watching this video), but that looked like a lot of eggs lol Also, quality is incredible as always

[@amaccoy]

I was trying to figure out all of those fit inside her

[@foxyboop4164]

It looked like all of em tbh lol

[@theopulentone1650]

I was seriously getting a bit pissed off. She needs to learn how to aim better lol

[@crimeinfoja7184]

@@theopulentone1650😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@striker07beat]

letting a comment for yt for one of the most underrated science channels, amazing quality content!

[@frankenscience3802]

These types of comments keep me going! Thanks man

[@W19-m2e]

You literally deserve more subscribers! Your videos are pure excellence.

[@frankenscience3802]

Thanks man! Hopefully I’ll get some more with time!

[@madmonkee6757]

And you absolutely need to learn what the word "literally" means.

[@must_tash4195]

5:05 best pic of a seahorse ever

[@emawerna]

Some fish, like the Platy fish we have in our home aquarium, give birth to live young. This is the female giving birth to live young. Live bearers like Platys have a reproductive advantage in a relatively crowded environment with other species (like a fish tank with other species of fish in it). The fry pop out of the mother and can swim to safety. However, one gender is expending the energy. The female has to expend energy avoiding the males who want to mate all of the time. The solution in the home aquarium is to up the number of females for every male so that he is chasing around a lot of girls rather than just one. Wild female platys and other similar live bearer females in natural environments don't get such relief. So, female Platys have to expend energy: 1) avoiding males, 2) producing eggs, and 3) retaining those eggs in their bodies until the fry hatch. The females "blow up" when they are pregnant. They are less streamline, making it cost more energy for them to swim. Energy-wise, all the males have to do is find the females and mate with them. Instead of him searching the gravel or hiding spots for eggs to fertilize like with other fish species, he knows where the eggs he wants are. Hence, he chases the females relentlessly, putting more pressure on the females. He has excess energy. She is struggling to swim well enough so that she can find enough food in her expanding pregnant body. Any energy intensive task she can give to him instead (like egg guarding or even male pregnancy) is going to mean more energy overall goes into producing offspring. With shared responsibilities, you are harnessing both male and female energy instead of only female energy. So, Mrs. Seahorse gets to go eat and fill her body with eggs again before her previous brood in even born. As a result, there are more Seahorses in the world.

[@oticiaredman8516]

Thank you. I love learning new things.

[@abstracter8627]

What an excellent well researched video, thank you

[@frankenscience3802]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@vzqrt]

Humans: my wife is giving birth!! Seahorses: My husbands giving birth!!!

[@jhndr0nia]

Seahorses: Wife gave her eggs to her husband so that he can fertilise them, care for them, release them from a pocket in his belly

[@DefektiveEnvy]

You answer all the niche biology questions I have! Best channel, new favorite

[@madmonkee6757]

I've always been fascinated by seahorses, pipefish, and seadragons. A little trivia for you: in Baltimore, in the 50s and 60s (and maybe longer) seahorses were a secret symbol for lesbians (because it's the males that give birth). There's something you won't see in a John Waters movie.

[@simonbuchner8330]

Hello! Very glad to have found this top quality channel but you should change your voice audio processing. For example the s-sounds are very sharp so maybe eq that out a little bit

[@4weentertainlifenaturetrav436]

I don't know why I'm watching this, but I love it. Thanks for the information I just learned somethings.

[@JillyBean_1987]

Seriously, this video is so professional. Because your subscriber count is so low (I have no idea how!) I thought maybe you stole a video from National Geographic or something! I promise I really mean that. Not just trying to stroke your ego!

[@eetuthereindeer6671]

Sometime during the last year, this channel lost the ability to respond to comments. Too busy making these darn near perfect videos i guess 😂 like literally i have no ideas for any new improvements. Maybe other than responding to questions 🙂

[@paulinehalkyard9312]

What a brilliant video this was very interesting well done 😍😍😍😍

[@AbsteEnt]

Love your documentation!

[@spacedimensia]

genuinely made me sad when those eggs fell

[@iraeis7267]

got recommended this after watching the suicidal salmons video. You deserve to get blessed by the algo

[@tusharbhatnagar811]

Exactly, same happened to me

[@kevinarmandosiliezarmadrid3015]

Very informative, good job Bro

[@frankenscience3802]

Thanks man!

[@tonyyero7231]

Male seahorses are unique among animals in that they get pregnant and give birth to their young. During courtship, female seahorses use a special ovipositor to inject their unfertilized eggs into the male's brood pouch, which is located on his tail. So YES, scientifically he is fertilizing her eggs and expelling them live!! THAT IS GIVING BIRTH. She carries the eggs...that simple.

[@HelionDark]

Great video! Awesome chanal

[@footfault1941]

"pregnant" is a gender-specific term according Oxford or Cambridge dictionary whose definition goes "women or female animals having .." What male seahorse is doing is beyond description! (No offense intended.)

[@footfault1941]

From its appearance more like a reptile to unparalleled reproductive behavior, seahorse is missing nothing for wonder & awe. Very illustrative as usual featuring the latest update in. Grades of paternal care are shown leading up to the most complex one. Yet, evolutionary transition does not look as smooth or straightforward as presented here. Some steps more should be taken to the complex level of male reproductive system. That's the impression from this superb footage. Thank you very much! Next!

[@joralva24]

Amazing videos bro

[@harmqueen5034]

And that’s why seahorses have been so successful at their own pace and they are now being

[@--Paws--]

Male sticklebacks, relatives of the sygnathids, do guard the eggs.

[@HosannaMartinez-w3q]

No wonder I love all sorts of nature❤. Air, earth, sea!

[@Madhukirtan]

Absolutely amazing; fascinating!!

[@socialist-strong]

new video aww yea thank you :)

[@frankenscience3802]

Yes! New video out every 2 weeks so stay tuned for the next one!

[@Tereselynn]

This is amazing! Aren't they precious? Awe!

[@lemsavage9473]

seahorse mpreg

[@kevinpeters6709]

7:26 fish bussy

[@khamok6916]

Great video

[@disappointed1638]

This confirms they don't give birth to them they hold them in their pouches/pockets until they hatch. Giving birth and holding them in a pocket are two different things.

[@dignaallen3244]

They have contractions and give birth that’s painful and real

[@piglin469]

well conciption happens inside them so it counts as pregnancy

[@lilbich6576]

Male provide the nutrition needed by the eggs to develop and had contractions to push them out. Get you feminist apologetic as** outa here

[@Ruiluth]

@@dignaallen3244 it's not really painful for almost every other animal.

[@jamesbizs]

The eggs are inserted into the male where they are then fertilized, and are hatched INSIDE the male, until he gives birth to them. How is that not giving birth?

[@marconoboa1154]

This was so beutifull

[@tonyyero7231]

Male seahorses are unique among animals in that they get pregnant and give birth to their young. During courtship, female seahorses use a special ovipositor to inject their unfertilized eggs into the male's brood pouch, which is located on his tail. So yes, scientifically he IS giving birth as well as fertilizing them.

[@jhndr0nia]

I have disagreee slightly. Mouthbrooding take up the fertilised eggs and released them once they hatched. Are they giving birth as well then?

[@OpenGangnamStyle]

Megnancy. Meriods. Muterus. Menopause.

[@trippiechris1852]

So if im getting this correct theyre mammals but they are not mammals?

[@Genzafel]

They dont have a 3 bone ear, neither produce milk a long side many other adaptations that make crown mammals… well mammals, this is just another example of convergent evolution

[@autisticscreechling4950]

Technically, no, since pregnant mammals have a placenta to provide the unborn offspring with nutrients which doesn't happen with seahorses. Even though seahorses carry and birth live young, they don't qualify as mammals.

[@jhndr0nia]

​@@Genzafel I wouldn't even go so far to say that it's convergent evolution. It simply another animal where paternal parenting occurs only in a very specialised way

[@comradeweismann6947]

Comments for the Algorithm God

[@frankenscience3802]

Thank you! Really appreciate the support 🙏🏽

[@lisaduncanson6086]

It’s El Mago’s fault that the seahorse’s level of parenting has been altered!

[@thuantran610]

Fascinating!

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

Don't viviparous plants (yes they exist) also have male pregnancy being (presumably) hermaphrodites?

[@joroc]

They don't have 2 genders

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

@@joroc They are both male and female. Parthenogenesis in plants does not happen in plants through gametes AFAIK, so parthenogenesis only plants don't have a biologically defined gender.

[@francisluglio6611]

@@joroc way to have an opinion on something you know nothing about

[@shiftingSandss]

​@@jorocwhy are people who have no idea what they're talking about always so confident? the 'female' organs of a flower are the carpels. they produce ovules, which become seeds when fertilized. the 'male' organ of a flowering plant is the stamen- it produces pollen, which fertilizes the ovules. some flowers, like flax and lilies, have both stamen and carpels. they have 'two genders'. even in cases where the flower has only one of the two reproductive organs, the plant that flower grows on usually has both 'male' and 'female' flowers. there are also animals that literally have two genders. many sea slugs are hermaphrodites and will do the deed with both parts simultaneously. this has been a useless explanation of why a two year old comment was wrong. thank you for coming to my ted talk

[@jhndr0nia]

How would a male pregnancy work with them being hermaphrodites?

[@aldelaniz5726]

And their mum swam away 😢

[@jacquelineoconnor6469]

I think somebody is just giving the wrong names to the sea horses just for the sake to say that male can be pregnant too. What makes a female sea horse female? Is not the ability to carry new life? Also, the “female” sea horse is dropping eggs, where are those eggs fertilized?

[@thegoldensuperior1863]

Male = Smaller, but More Gametes (Sperm/Semen) Female = Bigger, but Fewer Gametes (Ovum/Eggs)

[@shiftingSandss]

...what? by that logic, only mammals, marsupials, and a handful of reptiles/sharks are female. other animals don't carry their eggs inside their bodies until they're fertilized and develop into live young. they either eject the eggs and fertilize them outside of their body, like most fish, or fertilize them inside their body and let them develop outside of their body, like birds. the female creates the eggs. the male fertilizes them. what male seahorses do is kinda like if male birds had kangaroo pouches and kept their eggs there after the female laid them.

[@jhndr0nia]

As far as I know, they are fertilised in the pouch of the male. I mean the female still lays the eggs and doesn't produce sperm that makes it the female

[@paulfrank7164]

It's amazing to me how 🤔 living things evolve overtime like God gave every living thing upgrades overtime it's awesome how else could u explain it 🤷🏿‍♂️

[@Skittenmeow]

Ok this needs more views. Not on social media atm so guess I'm texting and emailing peeps

[@JOELITO3055]

Contractions? More like bustin a……..😂

[@Adee_j___]

They never miss a chance to spread nonsense

[@brittneysanders4027]

Wow

[@itsyaboiherman]

Hmmm if they give birth are they still male?

[@tris-xi4bq]

Yes they're males that give birth simple as that.

[@diane3209]

I knew the lgbt was gonna find this

[@jhndr0nia]

​​@@diane3209 Do you really not have anything better to do than spread your misunderstanding and ignorance in the comment section of this video? Wtf does this have to do with LGBTQ? It's a scientific question. Please do the world a favour and keep your ignorant thoughts to yourself.

[@jhndr0nia]

I wouldn't say that they really give birth. It's rather a specialised form of taking care for the eggs by the male. The male is still a male because it produces sperm and the female still a female because it produces eggs

[@AbdelRahmanSeyamEg]

all these signs and man is still arrogant that all of this is by randomness not design 😐

[@FaithMatini]

How do you know that God didn’t design them to be like that? How can randomness result in species that know they need to breed in order to populate the world and transfer their genes?

[@Claymourn7]

For humans this would be so painful 🤦‍♂️

[@hjames78]

talk about switching gender roles smh

[@mbww8572]

Male pregnancy - see Suriname toads!

[@jhndr0nia]

Isn't it the female that carries the eggs in cavities on the back?

[@yacarlysluzon1828]

They actually didn't thy have a hallow almost like a kangaroo pouch that acts as incubator* But the mom ultimately is the one who has the eggs and babies to begin with* I like sea horses* I wanted to study them at one point in life* But not any more* Anyways thanks for the video* May 19, 2022 11:24am I know what I know because I know what I know also I'm still me*/

[@noahway13]

Wow. Male seahorse are so WOKE.

[@thegoldensuperior1863]

Not as woke as Parthenogenesis or Mysandrists...

[@lemonadelemon1960]

So hold up? She cant carry them because shes female? Ummm...

[@magnarcreed3801]

I wouldn't if given the option, let males do it.

[@Zyleace]

Its because female seahorses have the dicks instead.

[@user-nd7rg5er5g]

You could say it's a little fishy.

[@autisticscreechling4950]

@@user-nd7rg5er5g Get out

[@tris-xi4bq]

Yeah it's pretty simple she can't fertilize them so the male does it.

[@typower9]

'May have evolved from...' 'May have/possibly caused the......to evolve.......' And there you have it: Evolution-all based on conjecture but treated as fact.

[@jhndr0nia]

Science is simply honest

[@iker900]

Now I understand the majoras mask sidequest

[@UnicornFairy42]

Seahorses are so beautiful when they do their courtship dance and change colors. 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

[@picandvideo]

The classification of seahorse sexes must be wrong.🤔🫤

[@tris-xi4bq]

Nope male seahorses do indeed give birth. And they're species of fish that females turn into males or males turn into females. All of that is natural in their world.

[@saimaddy3456]

Great video