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Seahorses range in size from 1.5 to 35 cm (0.6 to 13.8 in). [13] They are named for their equine appearance, with bent necks and long snouted heads and a distinctive trunk and tail. Although they are bony fish, they do not have scales, but rather thin skin stretched over a series of bony plates, which are arranged in rings throughout their bodies.
Livebearers are fish that retain their eggs inside the body and give birth to live, free-swimming young. They are especially prized by aquarium owners. They are especially prized by aquarium owners. Among aquarium fish, livebearers are nearly all members of the family Poeciliidae and include: guppies , mollies , platies and swordtails .
The surfperch, genus Embiotoca, is a saltwater fish with a gestation period of three to six months. [13] This lengthy period of pregnancy gives the family its scientific name from the Greek "embios" meaning "persistent" and "tokos" meaning "birth". The table below shows the gestation period and number of young born for some selected fish.
These seahorses reach sexual maturity before they grow to 10 cm, unlike some other species of seahorses that reach maturity when they are larger than 10 cm. When flat-faced seahorses mate, the females give their eggs to the males who carry the eggs and give birth to live young.
Seahorses are renowned for mating for life, with the male carrying the eggs. ... A heavily pregnant male Denise's pygmy seahorse is photographed on his way to give birth, in Wakatobi, Sulawesi ...
The fish family Syngnathidae has the unique characteristic of a highly derived form of male brood care referred to as "male pregnancy". [2] The family is highly diverse, containing around 300 different species of fish. Included in Syngnathidae are seahorses, the pipefish, and the weedy and leafy seadragons.
Like other seahorses, the dwarf seahorse has a head angled at right angles to its body and swims upright using its dorsal fin to propel it and its pectoral fins to steer. It grows to an average length of 2 and 2.5 cm (0.8 and 1.0 in), with a maximum length of 5.0 cm (2.0 in).
Gestation lasts a few weeks, then males will release the eggs without caring for them. Generally, males are ready to breed again almost immediately after giving birth. Though little is known about the great seahorse's specific breeding habits, many related seahorses have been studied and were found to occasionally be monogamous.