CANADIAN researchers eager to study and preserve seahorse populations have managed to film a male as it gave birth off Port Stephens.
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Most filmed sea horse births happen in captivity and it’s almost unheard of to capture such sights in the wild.
“The odds of finding a male that’s pregnant and late term – to see this happen – it’s very rare,” University of British Columbia masters student Clayton Manning said.
“Port Stephens is one of the best places in the world we’ve got to study them.”
The video was taken in the seagrass off Little Beach.
Female seahorses deposit eggs into a pouch on the male’s abdomen, which he then fertilises and continues to carry in a form of pregnancy.
White’s seahorses carry babies for about 21 days before releasing between 100 to 250 babies fully formed.
Bottom trawling and other fishing methods have put pressure on seahorse numbers worldwide, but Australian populations are generally steady.
Mr Manning said his thesis aimed to determine habitat’s importance to seahorse populations as well as the affect of fish numbers and predation.
“It might be that some seagrass characteristics allow them to do better than others,” he said.
His Vancouver lab, Project Seahorse, is dedicated to the specie’s survival.
“The seahorse resonates with people and for that reason they’re a flagship species,” Mr Manning said.
“They have interesting characteristics that make people want to preserve them.
“If we can preserve them then hopefully videos won’t be all we have left.”
Research assistant Megan Abele has joined Mr Manning on their Australian study tour which starts and ends with Port Stephens.
“I do a lot of scientific diving back home,” she said.
“I’ve been diving in a few places and there are some similarities with the variety of species here compared to British Colombia but the water’s warmer here which is nice.”
