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Seahorse Survey
The fabled monogamy of the seahorse has been exposed as a myth by a survey at SEA LIFE centres in the UK and Germany.
Not only are seahorses shameless flirts, the survey has revealed, they’re not too fussy about gender!
The native British spiny seahorse Hippocampus guttulatus was the only species to show any sign of fidelity, with five pairs out of a total of 22 individuals remaining faithful to each other.
A total of 90 seahorses at more than 15 SEA LIFE centres were equipped with special ID tags last summer, the majority Australian big-bellied seahorses Hippocampus abdominalis and slender seahorses Hippocampus reidi.
Over a period of a month visitors were asked to record courtship behaviour.
“They were looking for colour changes, knotting of tails and synchronised swimming,” said SEA LIFE curator Paul Bullimore.
“These are all courtship rituals,” he added. “The easiest to spot is the famous seahorse dance where couples knot tails and swim together, matching each other’s movements almost perfectly.”
A total of 1,986 ‘contacts’ were recorded between males and females…but another 836 were between females and a further 346 between males.
“The results came as a bit of a surprise,” admitted Paul. “We were pretty sure there was far more promiscuity among seahorses than is generally acknowledged, but we hadn’t picked up on the same---- liaisons.
“Those of us who look after these creatures on a daily basis seldom have the time to just stand and watch. That’s why we asked visitors to help us with this research.”
The aptly named big-bellied seahorses showed the keenest propensity for fooling around.
“Among the males, the ones with the largest bellies or the biggest incubation pouches were by far the sauciest,” said Paul.
“With a few exceptions, the big bellies appeared happy to engage in courtship with any other member of the same species in the same tank, usually, but not exclusively, of the opposite ---,” said Paul.
“Slender seahorses were observed with the same partner more than 50-per-cent of the time, but would also flirt with others fairly regularly,” he added.
The notable exceptions to the rule were the spiny seahorses at centres in Great Yarmouth, , Brighton, and the German centres in and .
“Perhaps the naturalists who first reported monogamy in seahorses had observed it in one or two species and just assumed it would be universal,” he added.
Another possibility is that the sexual behaviour of some seahorse species is different in aquarium conditions to that in the wild.
“We hope our findings prompt marine scientists to investigate further to see if the same pattern applies to wild populations.”
A pioneering breeding success with spiny seahorses in 1995 at the Weymouth SEA LIFE centre sparked a breeding programme which is now the most successful in the world.
Weymouth now hosts a National Seahorse Breeding and Conservation Centre, and satellite breeding outposts have been established at several other centres in the UK and across the continent .
END
Seahorse Survey
The fabled monogamy of the seahorse has been exposed as a myth by a survey at SEA LIFE centres in the UK and Germany.
Not only are seahorses shameless flirts, the survey has revealed, they’re not too fussy about gender!
The native British spiny seahorse Hippocampus guttulatus was the only species to show any sign of fidelity, with five pairs out of a total of 22 individuals remaining faithful to each other.
A total of 90 seahorses at more than 15 SEA LIFE centres were equipped with special ID tags last summer, the majority Australian big-bellied seahorses Hippocampus abdominalis and slender seahorses Hippocampus reidi.
Over a period of a month visitors were asked to record courtship behaviour.
“They were looking for colour changes, knotting of tails and synchronised swimming,” said SEA LIFE curator Paul Bullimore.
“These are all courtship rituals,” he added. “The easiest to spot is the famous seahorse dance where couples knot tails and swim together, matching each other’s movements almost perfectly.”
A total of 1,986 ‘contacts’ were recorded between males and females…but another 836 were between females and a further 346 between males.
“The results came as a bit of a surprise,” admitted Paul. “We were pretty sure there was far more promiscuity among seahorses than is generally acknowledged, but we hadn’t picked up on the same---- liaisons.
“Those of us who look after these creatures on a daily basis seldom have the time to just stand and watch. That’s why we asked visitors to help us with this research.”
The aptly named big-bellied seahorses showed the keenest propensity for fooling around.
“Among the males, the ones with the largest bellies or the biggest incubation pouches were by far the sauciest,” said Paul.
“With a few exceptions, the big bellies appeared happy to engage in courtship with any other member of the same species in the same tank, usually, but not exclusively, of the opposite ---,” said Paul.
“Slender seahorses were observed with the same partner more than 50-per-cent of the time, but would also flirt with others fairly regularly,” he added.
The notable exceptions to the rule were the spiny seahorses at centres in Great Yarmouth, , Brighton, and the German centres in and .
“Perhaps the naturalists who first reported monogamy in seahorses had observed it in one or two species and just assumed it would be universal,” he added.
Another possibility is that the sexual behaviour of some seahorse species is different in aquarium conditions to that in the wild.
“We hope our findings prompt marine scientists to investigate further to see if the same pattern applies to wild populations.”
A pioneering breeding success with spiny seahorses in 1995 at the Weymouth SEA LIFE centre sparked a breeding programme which is now the most successful in the world.
Weymouth now hosts a National Seahorse Breeding and Conservation Centre, and satellite breeding outposts have been established at several other centres in the UK and across the continent .
END
