http://www.bio.davidson.edu/Courses/anphys/2000/Cook/Reproduction.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seahorse
http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/marine/seahorse/seahorse_reproduction.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/12880/seahorse.html
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artnov06macro/sc-macro.html
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/seahorse-reproduction.html
http://www.seahorseworlds.com/seahorse-reproduction.html
http://www.brighthub.com/environment/science-environmental/articles/66018.aspx
http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2003/february/shorse.htm
http://www.helium.com/items/2195939-reproductive-process-of-seahorses
Wednesday 3 August 2011
A short quiz to test your knowledge on seahorses! :)
Seahorses rock our lives! :D Here is a little quiz to see how much you know about us, seahorses :) *neigh neigh*
Eggs being transferred from the female to the male!
Since we already saw how seahorses mate and give birth, we shall now take a look at how the eggs are transferred from the female to the male! :) Hope you enjoy it!
Tuesday 2 August 2011
Picking their future mate! :D
Male seahorses have clear program when it comes to choosing a mating partner for increasing their reproductive achievement. Being selective by preferring big females, they will have large eggs and offspring. Seahorses have a perfect reproduction mode. Male seahorses give all post-fertilization parental concern still. In spite of high levels of paternal investment, they have long been thought to have traditional sex roles with females selecting mating partners as well as males rivaling for their concentration. But egg, offspring size and clutch increase with the size of female body in seahorses advising that males can get fecundity advantages by mating with big-bodied females.
One Example of the Common Misconception!
Get it? :D This means that most of the seahorses are POLYGAMOUS instead of monogamous! :D
Fun facts!
DID YOU KNOW? :D
Conventionally, parents take care and attend to the needs of their young. However, the seahorses do not! Instead, they just leave the baby seahorses to gain independence themselves. But, they do a teeny weeny bit for them.
As mentioned before, their brood pouch regulates salinity (dissolved salt content of a body of water) for the eggs, slowly increasing in the pouch to match that of sea water outside as the eggs mature. Once the offspring hatch, the male releases the baby seahorses and does not provide parental care for them.
So.. the little seahorses are left to wander off in the sea alone!
As mentioned before, their brood pouch regulates salinity (dissolved salt content of a body of water) for the eggs, slowly increasing in the pouch to match that of sea water outside as the eggs mature. Once the offspring hatch, the male releases the baby seahorses and does not provide parental care for them.
So.. the little seahorses are left to wander off in the sea alone!
Sex role reversal! :)
The seahorse is a very unique type of animal as it is the only one in the entire animal kingdom where the male gets pregnant instead of the usual female!
Sex role reversal involves the female competing for males as a mate. (where males usually fight for a girl in our daily lives) Male seahorses provide parental care for the young. While the young are in the pouch, males give oxygen through a capillary network, transfer nutrients, and change the atmosphere in the pouch.
*tick tick, isn't that like the placenta and umbilical cord in the human body system?* :D
The atmosphere change in the pouch makes it contain more salt water, so the young will be prepared to go into the ocean water when they are born.
Sex role reversal involves the female competing for males as a mate. (where males usually fight for a girl in our daily lives) Male seahorses provide parental care for the young. While the young are in the pouch, males give oxygen through a capillary network, transfer nutrients, and change the atmosphere in the pouch.
*tick tick, isn't that like the placenta and umbilical cord in the human body system?* :D
The atmosphere change in the pouch makes it contain more salt water, so the young will be prepared to go into the ocean water when they are born.
Common Misconceptions! Are seahorses monogamous? :)
In many websites such as wikipedia, seahorses is said to be monogamous! :) How much of this is true?
First, what does monogamous refer to? :D It refers to having only one mate, while polygamous refers to having different mates.
Actually, did you know that seahorses are usually polygamous? Only some species are monogamous.
Why is it then that so many people believed -and many people still do -that seahorses are monogamous? This was a big deal, as monogamy was thought only to occur in higher species like mammals, and certainly not in fish.
This was due to the media sentionalising this idea of monogamy. It was great publicity for conservation groups. These groups painted the picture of seahorses dying of loneliness in the oceans when their mates were taken from them, thus encouraging people to stop keeping wild seahorses as pets.
Even though the mating patterns of only a small handful of seahorse species have been studied, there is enough evidence to show that seahorses are in fact not monogamous, contrary to what the public would like to believe. However, this is also a saving grace -it means that seahorses will not be as easily forced into extinction, as if a mate disappears, the seahorse itself will actively seek out a new mate for reproduction.
Hope this enabled you to brush up on your current affair skills on seahorses! :D And gain more knowledge of the mates of seahorses!
First, what does monogamous refer to? :D It refers to having only one mate, while polygamous refers to having different mates.
Actually, did you know that seahorses are usually polygamous? Only some species are monogamous.
Why is it then that so many people believed -and many people still do -that seahorses are monogamous? This was a big deal, as monogamy was thought only to occur in higher species like mammals, and certainly not in fish.
This was due to the media sentionalising this idea of monogamy. It was great publicity for conservation groups. These groups painted the picture of seahorses dying of loneliness in the oceans when their mates were taken from them, thus encouraging people to stop keeping wild seahorses as pets.
Even though the mating patterns of only a small handful of seahorse species have been studied, there is enough evidence to show that seahorses are in fact not monogamous, contrary to what the public would like to believe. However, this is also a saving grace -it means that seahorses will not be as easily forced into extinction, as if a mate disappears, the seahorse itself will actively seek out a new mate for reproduction.
Hope this enabled you to brush up on your current affair skills on seahorses! :D And gain more knowledge of the mates of seahorses!
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