The Impact of a Seahorse's Size on the Mating Process. Is There a Significant Difference Between the Heights of Brooding Male Hippocampus Reidi as Compared to Non-Brooding Males? (PDF)

Scientific Essay from the year 2016 in the subject Biology - Behaviour, grade: 94, , course: Biology, language: English, abstract: Unlike other species, male seahorses are the carriers of their offspring. The reason for that remains still unknown, two theories are widespread: first, that since creating life takes quite a bit of energy, having the male seahorse carry the babies splits the energy load between the two parents. A second reason could be that this allows seahorses to reproduce more quickly, since it gives the female seahorse more time to make more eggs

The question that is pursued in this thesis is: Does size give male Hippocampus reidi a significant advantage in finding mates? In the wild, size can be quite important. Larger male seahorses can intimidate smaller seahorses, especially when competing for a mate. A bigger sized seahorse can likely defend its territory and offspring better than a smaller sized seahorse, thus becoming more appealing for female seahorses. In addition, a larger seahorse could signify an older, more experienced and capable seahorse. The assumption is, that there indeed is a significant difference between the heights of brooding male and non-brooding male Hippocampus reidi. (The term "brooding male" refers to male Hippocampus reidi which were observed to having a bulging brooding pouch containing seahorse eggs.)

The measuring of seahorse height is a quick process, and has not been believed to do any harm for years. A statistical analysis using an unpaired t-test will be made to test the initial hypothesis.