Did you know that seahorses can dance?

One of the most fragile and beautiful fish in the ocean is the tiny seahorse. Seahorses are remarkable animals, in more ways than one. But one of the most amazing things about them is that seahorses can dance!

Seahorses mate for life. When a seahorse finds the mate, the two seahorses begin a complicated series of dances. During these dances, they may change colour, and swim around side-by-side with their tails twined together or holding on to the same strand of grass. If other seahorses try to interfere, the couple just ignores them. This is called the “pre-dawn dance”. Each day they are together, the seahorses will dance this dance at the start of the day.

When it comes time to have babies, the seahorses start a much longer dance. It can last 8 hours! At the end of the dance, the male opens a special pouch in his chest, and the female lays her eggs inside. Then the male becomes pregnant! Seahorses are the only animals in the world in which the fathers have the babies.

During his pregnancy, the mother visits the father every morning and they do the pre-dawn dance together. After about six minutes of dancing, the seahorses part ways until they come together again the next morning.

At the end of two to four weeks, the father gives birth to hundreds of tiny babies!