The dynamics of reproductive rate, offspring survivorship and growth in the lined seahorse, Hippocampus erectus Perry, 1810

Abstract

SummarySeahorses are the vertebrate group with the embryonic development occurring within a special pouch in males. To understand the reproductive efficiency of the lined seahorse, Hippocampus erectus Perry, 1810 under controlled breeding experiments, we investigated the dynamics of reproductive rate, offspring survivorship and growth over births by the same male seahorses. The mean brood size of the 1-year old pairs in the 1st birth was 85.4±56.9 per brood, which was significantly smaller than that in the 6th birth (465.9±136.4 per brood) (P<0.001). The offspring survivorship and growth rate increased with the births. The fecundity was positively correlated with the length of brood pouches of males and trunk of females. The fecundity of 1-year old male and 2-year old female pairs was significantly higher than that from 1-year old couples (P<0.001). The brood size (552.7±150.4) of the males who mated with females that were isolated for the gamete-preparation, was larger than those (467.8±141.2) from the long-term pairs (P<0.05). Moreover, the offspring from the isolated females had higher survival and growth rates. Our results showed that the potential reproductive rate of seahorses H. erectus increased with the brood pouch development.

A novel pathogenic bacteria (Vibrio fortis) causing enteritis in cultured seahorses, Hippocampus erectus Perry, 1810

“…In the last decade, seahorse aquaculture has been developed as an important strategy to alleviate the pressure on the wild stock of seahorses (Woods ; Lin et al . , ; Lin, Lin & Huang ; Qin et al . ; Zhang et al .…”

The leptin system and its expression at different nutritional and pregnant stages in lined seahorse (Hippocampus erectus)

“…Therefore, the study of the regulation for nutrient transition and pregnancy of these special animals may help to understand the evolutionary adaptability of nutrient regulation in teleosts. The lined seahorse ( Hippocampus erectus ) is a highly valued species in both traditional Chinese medicine and aquarium trades, and it also has been widely used for some scientific research because it can be easily bred in a laboratory (Lin et al, 2012, 2008; Qin et al, 2014). Lined seahorse is mainly found along the western Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Nova Scotia (Foster and Vincent, 2004).…”

Development of seahorse (Hippocampus reidi, Ginsburg 1933): histological and histochemical study

“…However, the main bottleneck for seahorse aquaculture is the low newborn survival rate (Lin et al 2012;Otero-Ferrer et al 2010;Willadino et al 2012) and the capacity to find adequate nutrient requirements during their early life.…”