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Mating seahorses photographed in the wild

Bony Fishes: Osteichthyes, FL, Fishes, Florida, Groupers: Serranids: Serranidae, Marine Life, Palm Beach County, Seahorses: Syngathidae: Sygnathidae, USA, United States, West Palm Beach, behavior, copyrighted, lined seahorse: Hippocampus erectus, macro, malabar grouper: Epinephelus malabaricus, marine, mating, mating / courtship, muck, ocean, photo, photograph, photography, pregnant, rare, reproduction, underwater, underwater photo, underwater photography

The reproduction dynamics of mating seahorses is among the most unique in the animal world for it is the male seahorse who becomes pregnant. When the female deposits her unfertilized eggs into the males brooding pouch, the outer shell of the eggs breaks down, and the tissue from the male grows around the eggs. The male controls blood flow, salt concentrations, and provides oxygen and nutrition to the developing embryo in a placenta-like structure until the seahorses are born. This photograph of mating seahorses was captured at the exact moment when the female, on the right, was depositing her eggs into the male’s brood pouch. Learn more information about mating seahorses.