Yes, Male Seahorses Do Give Birth! Here's How

Key Takeaways

Male seahorses carry and give birth to their young, a unique trait among members of the Syngnathidae family, which includes seahorses, seadragons and pipefish.

Female seahorses deposit eggs into the male's brood pouch, where the male fertilizes and incubates them until birth.

The male seahorse uses skeletal muscles rather than smooth muscles to contract the brood pouch and give birth to up to 2,000 babies at a time.

Normally, female animals give birth to young — not males. It's just the way animals have always done it. However, the rule is almost always proven by its exception, and seahorses are the lucky winners of this particular exception. Seahorse men are the mamas.

Seahorses, seadragons and pipefishes are small marine fishes in the family Syngnathidae that have