WEBVTT - How Do Male Seahorses Give Birth?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbaum here. Reproduction is a weird and multitudinous process.

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<v Speaker 1>Some fish, for example, release their eggs into the water

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<v Speaker 1>to be fertilized without any direct contact between either parent.

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<v Speaker 1>Some living creatures don't need two parents at all, like

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<v Speaker 1>yeast's the kind we use to make bread that reproduce

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<v Speaker 1>by a new organism butting right off of a single parent,

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<v Speaker 1>or mushrooms that release spores which are like seeds, except

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<v Speaker 1>they don't need to be pollinated to develop into a

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<v Speaker 1>new mushroom. Even some lizards have been known to lay

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<v Speaker 1>eggs that develop into a hatchling without having been fertilized.

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<v Speaker 1>But in most of the higher animal kingdom, a male

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<v Speaker 1>animal delivers its sex cells or sperm to a female animal,

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<v Speaker 1>which keeps its sex cells or eggs inside its body,

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<v Speaker 1>where the young are nourished and developed until the female

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<v Speaker 1>animal gives birth. However, not so for seahorses. Male seahorses

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<v Speaker 1>carrie and birth they're young seahorses. Sea dragons and pipefishes

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<v Speaker 1>are a family of small marine fishes that tend to

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<v Speaker 1>have bony armour and long snouts with fused jaws. They

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<v Speaker 1>also have the unusual habit of leaving the gestation of

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<v Speaker 1>their young to the males. They do this in a

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<v Speaker 1>uterus like pouch, a complete with a placenta found in

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<v Speaker 1>their tails. A male seahorses have this pouch on the

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<v Speaker 1>front of their tails. The female seahorse impregnates the male

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<v Speaker 1>by inserting eggs into that pouch, into which the male

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<v Speaker 1>releases sperm to fertilize the eggs, and then incubates the

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<v Speaker 1>babies for twenty four days. Researchers have found that they

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<v Speaker 1>even provide the developing young with oxygen and nutrients during

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<v Speaker 1>this time, like female mammals and some reptiles do. The

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<v Speaker 1>mechanism behind this process of labor and birth was mysterious

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<v Speaker 1>for a long time, but an Australian research team has

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<v Speaker 1>cested out in a study published in September of twenty

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<v Speaker 1>twenty two in the journal Placenta. The researchers reported that

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<v Speaker 1>male seahorses labor and give birth in a way that's

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<v Speaker 1>very different from other mothers. Female labor in birth is

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<v Speaker 1>driven primarily by hormones like oxytocin, which can tract the

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<v Speaker 1>smooth muscles of the uterus to push the babies out.

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<v Speaker 1>A smooth muscle tissue works involuntarily, whereas skeletal muscles can

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<v Speaker 1>flex and relax when the brain tells them to, which

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<v Speaker 1>is why you can probably smile at will, but people

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<v Speaker 1>can't go into labor whenever they want. The research team

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<v Speaker 1>found the muscle tissue of the seahorse brood pouch did

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<v Speaker 1>not respond to the fish version of oxytocin, but that

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<v Speaker 1>the pouch itself contained very little smooth muscle tissue. Instead,

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<v Speaker 1>they found that the male seahorse has three small bones

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<v Speaker 1>at the opening of the brood pouch, where the anal

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<v Speaker 1>fin attaches to these skeletal muscles. Female seahorses have very

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<v Speaker 1>small or not existent anal fins. They are more prominent

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<v Speaker 1>in males. It turns out that those anal fins and

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<v Speaker 1>the skeletal muscles that power them are a key to

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<v Speaker 1>the mystery of seahorse birth, as they play a role

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<v Speaker 1>in both mating and labor for the seahorse. During courtship,

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<v Speaker 1>the male seahorse does a little sit up style dance,

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<v Speaker 1>a crunching and expanding his abdomen to let water into

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<v Speaker 1>his brood pouch. He does the same thing when he

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<v Speaker 1>goes into labor, pressing and relaxing his abdomen until his

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<v Speaker 1>thousands of babies few fourth. So instead of smooth muscle

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<v Speaker 1>running the seahorse birthing show, it's the skeletal muscles of

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<v Speaker 1>the amal fin the contract to open the brood pouch

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<v Speaker 1>of the male seahorse. More study is required to test

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<v Speaker 1>whether seahorses consciously make the contractions happen, or if the

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<v Speaker 1>skeletal muscles somehow override their normal rules and contract on

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<v Speaker 1>their own. A seahorse father can give birth to as

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<v Speaker 1>many as two thousand babies at a time. The scientists

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<v Speaker 1>think the reason that males give birth instead of the

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<v Speaker 1>females is because seahorse babies are often eaten by predators,

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<v Speaker 1>and so having the male give birth allows the female

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<v Speaker 1>time to create more eggs to be fertilized without having

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<v Speaker 1>to wait to give birth herself, sharing that labor insures

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<v Speaker 1>survival the species. Today's episode is based on the article Yes,

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<v Speaker 1>malsea horses do give birth Here's how on HowStuffWorks dot Com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by Jesslin Shields. Brainstuff is production by Heart Radio

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<v Speaker 1>in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio. Visit

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