Father’s Day Heroes: Seahorses vs. Seadragons

We’re gearing up for Father’s Day, which made me think about the many different kinds of “wild” dads there are here at the Aquarium. While they’re all deserving of our appreciation, none go above and beyond quite like seahorses and weedy seadragons. When these species reproduce, it’s the male who nurtures the developing embryos and carries them to term. In short, pregnant dads! Really makes you rethink gender roles, doesn’t it?

This unique reproductive method is exclusive to the family Syngnathidae, which also includes pipefish and pipehorses. Some other things all syngnathids have in common are fused jaws, the absence of pelvic fins and thick, bony armor covering their bodies — but male pregnancy, in terms of pure “wow” factor, is their main calling card as a group of species. The female deposits the unfertilized eggs with the male, who then cares for the growing embryos until they’re born. However, no two syngnathids share the exact same reproductive process. This includes our seahorses and seadragons, who differ in a couple of interesting ways.

First of all, the seadragon and the seahorse carry fertilized eggs in different locations. A pregnant seahorse looks pretty familiar to us humans, as they carry their young (who often number in the thousands, by the way) in a pouch located in their abdominal area. This gives them a sort of potbelly appearance. Seadragons, on the other hand, carry their eggs on a specialized patch of skin at the base of their tails.

The hatching processes of the two species are also completely different. Seahorses’ brood pouches begin to expand right before they give birth. This happens as the fully-grown seahorse embryos begin to hatch from their egg membranes and move freely around the pouch. Once the pouch is at capacity, the seahorse finally gives birth, releasing the entire brood at once in dramatic fashion.

Meanwhile, seadragons give birth to their brood more slowly over a period of several days. The baby seadragons hatch one by one rather than all at the same time, decreasing the competition for food by dispersing the brood over a larger area of ocean. You could say seadragon dads go the extra mile to set their kids up for survival in the wild, however, it doesn’t look as impressive in captivity.

If you want to see these amazing aquatic parents up close, come visit us at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium in the First Energy Powerhouse on the West Bank of the Flats. Bring your own dry-land dad on Father’s Day, June 17^th, and he’ll get in free with the price of a general admission ticket — find out more here.

 

 

 

 

How a President Propagated a Piranha Myth

Blockbuster thrillers like Jaws have given sharks an undeserved reputation as aggressive, man-eating killers. Similarly, stories about piranhas have portrayed this fairly calm species as bloodthirsty animals to be feared.

So where did this myth begin?

In 1913, Theodore Roosevelt made a trip to Brazil. To impress the adventurous former American President, locals took him deep into rainforest and allowed him to “discover” a river there but warned him not to venture in. What he did not know was that they had stocked the waters with unfed piranhas. To illustrate the dangers for the former President and accompanying journalists they threw a cow into water filled with starving piranhas. (Was it a dead cow? Bloody bits of diced meat? A sick cow? This detail seems to change from story to story.)  Within moments there was a massive feeding frenzy.

Roosevelt went on to record his amazement of these seemingly perfect killing machines in his travel memoirs, which the American population devoured and became weary of the species. In 1914’s “Through the Brazilian Wilderness”, Roosevelt noted the following:

“They are the most ferocious fish in the world. Even the most formidable fish, the sharks or the barracudas, usually attack things smaller than themselves. But the piranhas habitually attack things much larger than themselves . . . the piranha is a short, deep-bodied fish, with a blunt face and a heavily undershot or projecting lower jaw which gapes widely. The razor-edged teeth are wedge-shaped like a shark’s, and the jaw muscles possess great power. The rabid, furious snaps drive the teeth through flesh and bone. The head with its short muzzle, staring malignant eyes, and gaping, cruelly armed jaws, is the embodiment of evil ferocity; and the actions of the fish exactly match its looks.”

Although not based on real-world circumstances, Roosevelt’s vivid account the experience has only gained momentum over the years. Once Hollywood latched onto the myth and created the 1987 film “Piranha,” the unfortunate characteristic stuck.

In truth, piranhas are relatively calm until spooked. This animal can be skittish, especially if there are a larger number of them in one exhibit. The Red-Bellied Piranha, native to South America, feed on fish, snails, insects and aquatic plants, only occasionally eating larger mammals and birds.

We caught up with Connor while he was feeding our red-bellied piranha and asked him for the real story behind these beautiful fish.

Curious to learn more? Check out:

• Hidden History – The Myth of the Piranha
• OPEFE Archives – Legendary Myth of Piranha Revealed, as reported by H. R. Axelrod
• Our Blog – Hollywood Hoax: Busting The Myth Of The Piranha
• Zoologger – Sympathy for the Piranha

– Morgan Wright

5 Things I Learned about the Snowflake Eel

As we approach winter in Northeast Ohio my thoughts inevitably turn to the powdery white stuff we’ll be dealing with any day now. Maybe that’s why the Aquarium’s snowflake eels caught my interest. Here are five things I learned about these aquatic creatures:

This winter, visit the six snowflake eels at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium . . . where curiosity is natural

— Samantha Fryberger