A Dwarf Seahorse father is shown with one of his tiny babies Thursday at the Tennessee Aquarium.A few very tiny baby seahorses were born this week at the Tennessee Aquarium.
The Dwarf Seahorse (Hippocampus zosterae) is among the smallest seahorse species, with adults growing to only one inch in length.
Connie Arthur, the Aquarium's seahorse keeper, had been observing a few males who seemed to be pregnant. On Thursday morning when she arrived at the Aquarium, the tiny babies -- each one about the size of a grain of rice -- were swimming in the tank.
"It's not uncommon for us to find babies in any of our seahorse tanks," Arthur said. "But the Dwarf Seahorses are especially tiny so I keep a sharp eye out for them."
Luckily, according to Arthur, these babies (as tiny as they are) are one of the easiest species to raise. The babies instantly use their prehensile tail to grab onto whatever they can and will start eating newly hatched brine shrimp right away.
The birth of these minuscule babies comes just in time for Father's Day, since seahorse males are actually the ones that give birth.