Challenging pregnancy narratives -- with SCIENCE
The Wikipedia entry on Seahorse Courtship is both factually accurate and ridiculously well written and evocative. Go read it now. Or, I'll cut and paste here:
Courtship
When two parties discover a mutual interest at the beginning of breeding season, they court for several days, even while others try to interfere. During this time they have been known to change color, swim side by side holding tails or grip the same strand of sea grass with their tails and wheel around in unison in what is known as their “pre-dawn dance”. They eventually engage in their “true courtship dance” lasting about 8 hours, during which the male pumps water through the egg pouch on his trunk which expands and cleaves open to display an appealing emptiness. 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. The female inserts her ovipositor into the male’s brood pouch, where she deposits her eggs, which the male fertilizes. The fertilized eggs then embed in the pouch wall and become enveloped with tissue.[4] New research indicates the male releases sperm into the surrounding sea water during fertilization, and not directly into the pouch as was previously thought.[5] Most seahorse species' pregnancies last two to four weeks.
As the female squirts anywhere from dozens to thousands of eggs from a chamber in her trunk into the male pouch, her body slims while his swells. Both seahorses then sink back to the bottom and she swims away. Scientists believe the courtship behaviour serves to synchronize the movements of the two animals so that the male can receive the eggs when the female is ready to deposit them. The eggs are then fertilized in the father’s pouch which is coursed with prolactin, the same hormone responsible for milk production in pregnant women. He doesn’t supply milk, but his pouch provides oxygen as well as a controlled environment incubator. The eggs then hatch in the pouch where the salinity of the water is regulated; this prepares the newborns for life in the sea.[6][7] Throughout the male’s incubation, his mate visits him daily for “morning greetings”. The female seahorse swims over for about 6 minutes of interaction reminiscent of courtship. They change color, wheel around sea grass fronds, and finally promenade, holding each other’s tails. Then, the female swims away until the next morning, and the male goes back to vacuuming up food through his snout. [6]
Now, it's important for me to make it clear that I do not endorse using natural history/biological facts about non-human critters as justification for any social narrative about humans. But I do want to point out why the Seahorse's mating habits strike us as so interesting--they turn our narrative of "females have the babies, males just provide the sperm" on its head. We don't expect that a male would be the one to be pregnant, but that's exactly what happens in seahorses -- it is a full role reversal as far as pregnancy and birth-giving are concerned.
And apparently, trying to explain why this happens is a big challenge for scientists. One of the long-standing theories regarding sexuality in the animal kingdom is that the "less-invested" sex is the more aggressive and risk-taking. Edit: Male seahorses are the more aggressive sex, where "aggressive" means fighting with other seahorses, usually males. "Less-invested" here means that fewer personal resources are consumed in the creation of offspring. Apparently, while the male seahorse does invest a lot of his personal *time* into the gestation and incubation of the young, he still invests only half as much of his own personal resources (food-and-oxygen-derived energy) than the female does simply in producing the yolky eggs. However, some scientists think that that having the male do the gestation and incubation means that there are shorter birth intervals -- while the male is taking care of the young, the female can eat and rebuild her reserves and make another clutch of eggs.
And because I cannot help but anthropomorphize, let me just say Awwwwwwwwwww, seahorses are so darn cute!
They are monogamous! They greet each other every day and swim around holding each others' tails, or holding on to the same bits of seaweed, and changing colors at each other. Their highly involved daily courtship appears to be very important in maintaining their monogamous relationship. She comes and visits him every day while he's pregnant! D'awwww!
Courtship
When two parties discover a mutual interest at the beginning of breeding season, they court for several days, even while others try to interfere. During this time they have been known to change color, swim side by side holding tails or grip the same strand of sea grass with their tails and wheel around in unison in what is known as their “pre-dawn dance”. They eventually engage in their “true courtship dance” lasting about 8 hours, during which the male pumps water through the egg pouch on his trunk which expands and cleaves open to display an appealing emptiness. 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. The female inserts her ovipositor into the male’s brood pouch, where she deposits her eggs, which the male fertilizes. The fertilized eggs then embed in the pouch wall and become enveloped with tissue.[4] New research indicates the male releases sperm into the surrounding sea water during fertilization, and not directly into the pouch as was previously thought.[5] Most seahorse species' pregnancies last two to four weeks.
As the female squirts anywhere from dozens to thousands of eggs from a chamber in her trunk into the male pouch, her body slims while his swells. Both seahorses then sink back to the bottom and she swims away. Scientists believe the courtship behaviour serves to synchronize the movements of the two animals so that the male can receive the eggs when the female is ready to deposit them. The eggs are then fertilized in the father’s pouch which is coursed with prolactin, the same hormone responsible for milk production in pregnant women. He doesn’t supply milk, but his pouch provides oxygen as well as a controlled environment incubator. The eggs then hatch in the pouch where the salinity of the water is regulated; this prepares the newborns for life in the sea.[6][7] Throughout the male’s incubation, his mate visits him daily for “morning greetings”. The female seahorse swims over for about 6 minutes of interaction reminiscent of courtship. They change color, wheel around sea grass fronds, and finally promenade, holding each other’s tails. Then, the female swims away until the next morning, and the male goes back to vacuuming up food through his snout. [6]
Now, it's important for me to make it clear that I do not endorse using natural history/biological facts about non-human critters as justification for any social narrative about humans. But I do want to point out why the Seahorse's mating habits strike us as so interesting--they turn our narrative of "females have the babies, males just provide the sperm" on its head. We don't expect that a male would be the one to be pregnant, but that's exactly what happens in seahorses -- it is a full role reversal as far as pregnancy and birth-giving are concerned.
And apparently, trying to explain why this happens is a big challenge for scientists. One of the long-standing theories regarding sexuality in the animal kingdom is that the "less-invested" sex is the more aggressive and risk-taking. Edit: Male seahorses are the more aggressive sex, where "aggressive" means fighting with other seahorses, usually males. "Less-invested" here means that fewer personal resources are consumed in the creation of offspring. Apparently, while the male seahorse does invest a lot of his personal *time* into the gestation and incubation of the young, he still invests only half as much of his own personal resources (food-and-oxygen-derived energy) than the female does simply in producing the yolky eggs. However, some scientists think that that having the male do the gestation and incubation means that there are shorter birth intervals -- while the male is taking care of the young, the female can eat and rebuild her reserves and make another clutch of eggs.
And because I cannot help but anthropomorphize, let me just say Awwwwwwwwwww, seahorses are so darn cute!
Click to viewThey are monogamous! They greet each other every day and swim around holding each others' tails, or holding on to the same bits of seaweed, and changing colors at each other. Their highly involved daily courtship appears to be very important in maintaining their monogamous relationship. She comes and visits him every day while he's pregnant! D'awwww!