He’s Pregnant For Father’s Day.

June 15th, 2008 · 1 Comment

Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a Dad and nature demonstrates this beautifully…

Just like my Dad is the backbone of my family, this weedy sea dragon found at the Georgia Aquarium is literally the carrier of 70 eggs on his tail. Scientists don’t know what turns these lil’fellas on (unlike their recent discovery of the UV rays triggering a sexy response for Chinese Jumping Spiders) as such this is a rare occasion for the species as it is the 3rd of it’s kind to become a Daddy in captivity.

During mating the female lays the eggs via a long tube to her mate’s tail where a patch of skin provides the eggs with oxygen. New eggs are a light pink colour and as they ripen over the course of 8 weeks they turn dark purple at which point Daddy flaps his tail to assist in the hatching process. This type of reproduction is very rare as the sea dragon is 1 of 3 species where the male carries the babies to full term – the other being seahorses and pipefish.

He is expected to give birth in July and the survival rate for captive sea dragons is about 60% thus far. Fingers crossed that the Aquarium can up that survival rate as the sea dragon is a threatened species due to pollution and low rate of survival for its infants.