The miracle of birth is always incredible to witness. It’s very rare for us to get to see wildlife births with our own eyes.
But one diver got that experience in the middle of the ocean.
You might still remember the face you made when you learned for the first time that male seahorses are the ones who get pregnant.
Yes, the males carry their young.
And while it’s surreal to see them carry their young, witnessing them give birth is another thing entirely.
Two researchers witnessed such a miracle off the coast of New South Wales in Australia.
Clayton Manning and Meagan Abele are part of a marine conversation group based at the University of British Columbia.
They were doing a seafloor survey of the local marine life when they came across what they described as a “very, very pregnant” male seahorse.
They said that its small tail clung tightly around the seagrass as he was being swept away by the current.
Something was peeking out.
A tiny tail was sticking out from the seahorse’s brood pouch.
After they finished taking the seahorse’s measurements, a baby seahorse shot out from the pouch.
The tandem then just floated still, watching the seahorse give birth.
It must’ve been a surreal yet hopeful sight for the researchers because both of them were working on a conservation project for seahorses.
The local seahorse species are called Hippocampus whitei or Sydney seahorse.
Its scientific name means “horse-like sea monster” in Greek.
The researchers were doing dives and surveys to see how they can best support the seahorse population.
Seahorses have captured our imaginations since we first saw them.
The fish swims upright with its face resembling a horse. And while scientists know their basic biology, we still have a lot to learn about these creatures.
Because of their anatomy, seahorses are not the best swimmers.
As such, they prefer seas with seagrass beds, mangroves, or coral reefs where they can hold onto surfaces.
Their unique physical appearance is not only the thing that’s remarkable. Seahorses are well-known for their role reversal when it comes to reproduction.
Females use a tube called an ovipositor that enables them to inject their eggs into the male’s brood pouch.
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Males, in turn, incubate the eggs and carry them around. After two to four weeks, the seahorse spews out its young.
This was the event that these two lucky researchers recorded.
We hope that this will not be the last time we’ll see them give birth in the wild.
Seahorses are very selective when it comes to habitat so environmental changes diminish their populations as well.
In Australia, meanwhile, they have a reason to be optimistic about seahorse populations. According to the University of British Columbia, local seahorse populations are thriving thanks to conservation efforts.
What an incredible moment to get to see.
Watch it for yourself in the video below!
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