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Male seahorses are just like PREGNANT WOMEN: Sea creatures provide nutrients and immune protection to unborn young

Biologists examined secretions inside brood pouches of male seahorses
They found the males provide nutrients and immune system protection
Genes expressed by male seahorses are similar to in human pregnancy

Published: 11:49 EST, 2 September 2015 | Updated: 15:27 EST, 2 September 2015

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Male seahorses, like this pot-bellied seahorse, undergo pregnancy, but biologists have found it bears a striking resemblance to human pregnancy

They are the only creatures in the animal kingdom where the male becomes pregnant, but seahorses may have far more in common with human mothers than it would seem.

Male seahorses nurture and nourish their brood in much the same way as pregnant humans do, according to a new study by biologists.

They found that while unborn seahorse babies get most of their nutrients from the egg yolk provided by their mothers, the fathers have evolved to provide additional nutrients and immune system protection.

They also provide the growing animals with vital oxygen while removing waste, just like in the uterus of pregnant human mothers.

Exactly how much of a role male seahorses play in the nurturing of embryos while carrying them in their brood pouch during their 24-day gestation period was largely a mystery.

But Dr Camilla Whittington, a marine biologist at the University of Sydney, said: 'Surprisingly, seahorse dads do a lot of the same things human mums do.

'Seahorse babies get a lot of nutrients via the egg yolk provided by their mothers but the pouch of the fathers has also evolved to meet the complex challenges of providing additional nutrients and immunological protection, and ensuring gas exchange and waste removal.'

Dr Whittington and her colleagues, whose work is published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, examined the conditions inside the brood pouches of male seahorses.

They found the males can deliver energy-rich lipids and calcium to the developing embryos, helping them to build up their tiny skeletons.

The growing embryo obtains nutrients from secretions in the uterus in humans and later through the umbilical cord. But researchers found genes switched on in pregnant male seahorses are similar to those in humans

Seahorses (pictured) are the only creature in the animal kingdom that undergoes a male pregnancy. The female lays eggs into the males brood pouch where he cares for them as they develop

They say it is likely the nutrients are secreted in the brood pouch and then absorbed by the embryos.

In early pregnancy human mothers also secrete nutrients from the uterus as the embryo develops, while later in pregnancy the foetus obtains nutrients via the umbilical cord.

They also found the genes expressed by male seahorses during pregnancy are similar to those expressed by humans.

Dr Whittington said the findings suggest the evolutionary origins of animal pregnancy across species is far more similar than previously thought.

She said: 'Regardless of your species, pregnancy presents a number of complex challenges, like ensuring you can provide oxygen and nutrients to your embryos.

'We have evolved independently to meet these challenges, but our research suggests that even distantly related animals use similar genes to manage pregnancy and produce healthy offspring.'

... BUT SEAHORSES ARE STEALTHY AND DEADLY KILLERS

They are one the slowest swimmers in the sea - but what seahorses lack in speed, they make up for in stealth.

The creatures' delicate heads are designed to prevent disturbances in the water that would alert prey to their approach.

This is important, as their dinner - tiny crustaceans called copepods - can rapidly sense ripples and escape at breakneck speed.

Despite being just 1mm long, the copepod is one of the world’s fastest animals, capable of breathtaking acceleration over short distances - the equivalent to a 6ft person swimming underwater at 2,000mph.

But even this impressive flight mechanism is no match for the ponderous, hungry seahorse.

The seahorse is the equivalent of a stealth fighter jet - it's head and body is shaped so that it causes minimum disruption as it moves through water.