Faleiro Filipa, Almeida Armando J, Ré Pedro, Narciso Luís
MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Laboratório Marítimo da Guia, Avenida Nossa Senhora do Cabo 939, 2750-374 Cascais, Portugal.
MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Laboratório Marítimo da Guia, Avenida Nossa Senhora do Cabo 939, 2750-374 Cascais, Portugal; Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal.
Anim Reprod Sci. 2016 Jul;170:61-7. doi: 10.1016/j.anireprosci.2016.04.003. Epub 2016 Apr 4.
In most animals, the mother plays the key role in reproduction, but male pregnancy in seahorses raises the question of whether the female still is the only determinant of offspring size or if she shares some responsibility with the male. This study evaluates the effects of both male and female size on the reproductive output of the long-snouted seahorse, Hippocampus guttulatus. Results demonstrated that, with regard to reproductive potential, the bigger the better. Seahorses preferred similar-sized or larger mates. Larger females produced bigger eggs with larger yolk reserves. Larger males had larger brood pouches, but did not produced larger broods. Male size was negatively correlated with embryo density and positively correlated with juvenile size. Both parents proved to play a decisive role in the reproductive output of this species. Newborn juveniles from the same parents were 15% bigger and 30% heavier when incubated in smaller and lower-density broods. This trade-off between the number and size of embryos inside the brood pouch clearly indicates a limited carrying capacity of the male, and demonstrates that the size of newborn seahorses can be, in part, paternally determined.
在大多数动物中，母亲在繁殖过程中扮演着关键角色，但海马的雄性怀孕现象引发了这样一个问题：雌性是否仍然是后代大小的唯一决定因素，或者她是否与雄性分担了一些责任。本研究评估了雄性和雌性体型对长吻海马（Hippocampus guttulatus）繁殖产出的影响。结果表明，就繁殖潜力而言，越大越好。海马更喜欢体型相似或更大的配偶。体型较大的雌性产出的卵更大，卵黄储备也更多。体型较大的雄性有更大的育儿袋，但产出的幼崽数量并不更多。雄性体型与胚胎密度呈负相关，与幼崽体型呈正相关。事实证明，双亲在该物种的繁殖产出中都起着决定性作用。当在较小且密度较低的育儿袋中孵化时，来自同一双亲的新生幼崽体型要大15%，体重重30%。育儿袋中胚胎数量和大小之间的这种权衡清楚地表明雄性的承载能力有限，并证明新生海马的大小在一定程度上可由父本决定。
