Many women feel that pregnancy should be experienced by men, reasoning that since men are the stronger both physically and emotionally, they would be more cut out for the process. Generally, females are responsible for carrying the young from fertilization to birth is period. The only two species which are known for male “pregnancy” are seahorses and pipe fishes. Naturally, everything starts with courtship that lasts several days even while others start to interfere. The couple does a round holding each other with the end of their tales and may often “dance” by circling each other for a few seconds to several minutes. This is known as their “pre-dawn” dance.

Eventually they engage in their “true courtship dance” lasting about 8 hours, during which the male pumps water through the egg pouch on his trunk. When the female’s eggs reach maturity, she and her mate let go of any anchors and snout-to-snout, drift upward out of the seagrass, often spiraling as they rise. After the female deposits her eggs, her body slims while his swells.

The eggs are then fertilized in the father’s pouch that is coursed with the same hormone responsible for milk production in pregnant women! Throughout the male’s pregnancy, his mate visits him daily for “morning greetings” reminiscent of courtship. They change color, wheel around sea grass, and finally promenade, holding each other’s tails. Then, the female swims away until the next morning. The male seahorse can give birth to as many as 2,000 babies at a time and pregnancies last anywhere from 10 to 25 days, depending on the species. This entire process requires a great amount of energy that might be the reason of the sexual role reversal.

Doesn’t the whole procedure remind you of human courtship and behavior during pregnancy? Seahorses truly are a marvel of creation that reflect God’s love wisdom and power and deserve our full admiration!

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