The Tennessee Aquarium was the site this week of a glorious birth – of Dwarf Seahorses, the smallest of seahorse species.
An adult Dwarf Seahorse (Hippocampus zosterae) grows to about one inch in length while baby seahorses are about the size of a grain of rice.
Connie Arthur, the Aquarium's seahorse keeper, had been observing a few pregnant male seahorses and she wasn't surprised to see the tiny seahorses swimming in the tank. That's right – seahorse males give birth.
"It's not uncommon for us to find babies in any of our seahorse tanks," Arthur said, according to Zoo Borns. "But Dwarf Seahorses are especially tiny, so I keep a sharp eye out for them."
Although seahorses are extremely tiny, they are one of the easiest species to raise, says Arthur.
Babies eat newly hatched brine shrimp while using their prehensile tails to grab onto something.
Watch this video of a very cute Dwarf Seahorse swimming in the tank with its parent:
