Male Pregnancy Rocks the Oregon Coast Aquarium

The Enchanted Seas exhibit at the Oregon Coast Aquarium has an absolute raft of babies, thanks to the efforts of the male Pot-belly seahorses there. Yes, the dads carry the eggs in the seahorse world, with hundreds of baby Potbellies recently born are now on exhibit - just in time for the holidays. Aquarium staff notes that fishes having babies in an exhibit shows how comfortable the adults are in their surroundings.

NEWPORT, Ore USA -- The boys have really been busy in the Pot-bellied seahorse exhibit at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Busy having babies! Yes, you heard it right- babies.

Seahorses have a gender-reversal situation when it comes to raising their young, as the female transfers her eggs to a pouch in the male when the eggs are fertilized. This means that "dad" gets pregnancy duty as well as helping with raising a brood at birth that could number up to 300 (and a world-record brood of 700).

The Pot-belly seahorses are part of the "Enchanted Seas" exhibit at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, featuring other magical seahorses, sea dragons, cuttlefishes as well as other reef fishes and marine invertebrates worth protecting. "Even though the baby Pot-belly seahorses are less than an inch long, they are very active," noted Jim Burke, Aquarium aquaculturist. "They're keeping the staff busy providing the hungry masses with live brine shrimp."

He added that the Pot-belly seahorse is found in the southwest Pacific as well as around Australia and New Zealand. "They breed in the late fall and early winter, which is really their spring and summer," Burke said, "so the timing and the size of the brood let us know the adult seahorses are very comfortable with their surroundings."

Adult Pot-belly seahorses will grow from three to 12 inches, live four-five years and are generally white to mottled yellow or light brown, though females have fewer splotches. They live in sea grasses and rock reefs in shallow water, attaching to sponges, jetty piles and other man-made objects with their prehensile tail.

Burke explains that as the baby Pot-belly seahorses get big enough, they'll be moved to holding tanks out of the exhibit area and provided to other aquariums or zoos seeking seahorse stock. This is a common practice between facilities and is one way the Oregon Coast Aquarium was able to obtain many of the fishes and marine creatures for Enchanted Seas before it opened last May.

"We've been extremely pleased with our animal rearing efforts around 'Enchanted Seas'," Burke added. "Our staff has been nationally-recognized with our jellyfish-rearing efforts in the past. It's equally great seeing our seahorses birthing their young for the public to observe, especially for the holidays."

The United National Convention recently voted to protect seahorses , whose numbers have declined by up to 95% due to overfishing to supply traditional medicine and decorations. The animals on exhibit in Enchanted Seas were obtained from either other aquariuims or government-licensed rearing facilities, and never harvested from the wild.

Located just south of Newport, the Oregon Coast Aquarium is named one of the top 10 aquariums in the nation by Parade magazine. Immerse yourself in Passages of the Deep and walk beneath the waves through a 200-foot clear underwater tunnel that snakes through three ocean habitats. Encounter sharks, rays and thousands of other fish swimming around you. Experience an exhilarating sensation when you look around and realize you're completely surrounded!

Experience the magic of "Enchanted Seas" while taking a journey into the mystical world of seahorses, sea dragons and other magical sea creatures worth protecting. This bright new exhibit features painted murals by artist Michael Cole and displays a collection of ocean gems featuring seahorses hanging onto seagrass with their prehensile tails; a rainbow of tropical reef fishes flitting among the coral; sea dragons trailing frilly appendages; cuttlefish hovering like blimps; and children enjoying gaze-to-'gator vision of baby American alligators in a crawl-through tank. Visitors who crave a bit of the familiar will still find sea nettles, moon jellies and other jewels of the sea included with "Enchanted Seas".

Outdoors, rugged cliffs, caves and pools showcase the many fascinating fish and invertebrates of Oregon's coastal shores. Discover curious seals, sea lions and sea otters. A giant Pacific octopus lurks in an undersea coastal cave, and cartoonlike tufted puffins and other seabirds make their homes in one of the largest walk-through aviaries in North America.

Indoors, take a peek "Under the Lily Pad" at the Ocean Exploration Station for an up-close view of frogs, newts and salamanders as you discover that there's more to a pond than scum and explore the role these soggy spaces play in a healthy ecosystem. Visitors dip into the microscopic life of a pond community and see if they can identify the many creatures in the "duck soup" found in a pond ecosystem. Learn what's lurking beneath the pond's surface as you watch bluegills, compare newts and salamanders and search for tree and red-legged frogs. You'll be ribbetted!

Oregon Coast Aquarium admission is $10.75 for adults, $9.50 for seniors (65+), and $6.50 for children (4-13), children three and under are free. Advance tickets can be purchased on-line at www.aquarium.org. Group rates are available when arranged in advance. The Aquarium is open every day except December 25 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. up to Memorial Day weekend, expanding to 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day.

For additional information about the Oregon Coast Aquarium, surf www.aquarium.org or call 541-867-FISH.

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Editors' & producers' note: The Oregon Coast Aquarium has an extensive library of digital images and color slides of the 15,000 marine animals in its care; special events and activities; and working shots of the staff and visitors. Merely let us know your image needs and we'll provide them to you. Thank you!

Contact:

Guy DiTorrice, Public Relations Officer
Telephone: 541-867-3474, ext. 5224
E-mail: guyd@aquarium.org
Web site: http://www.aquarium.org/

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