Columbus Zoo and Aquarium celebrates first successful birth of seadragons

POWELL, Ohio (WCMH) — A pair of weedy seadragons that arrived at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium just over a year ago are now parents to 26 babies, marking a considerable accomplishment for the park.

In a press release, the zoo announced that the new "fry" of "weedies" had hatched sometime between June 24 and July 4 and detailed the unusual way their father assured his offspring's survival. The zoo explained that varying from most other species, the male seadragon is responsible for getting the eggs to emerge.

"The dads carry the important task of helping to bring babies into the world by fertilizing the eggs and carrying them on their tails until they are ready to hatch," the zoo wrote. "The successful egg transfer from a female to the male’s tail is a delicate process, and the fact that this occurred at the Columbus Zoo even once was already a cause for celebration, in addition to the subsequent hatching."

Before the eggs hatched the care team moved the father behind the scenes, according to the zoo. After the more than two dozen newborns arrived, which can take six to eight weeks, the father was returned to the main habitat inside the Nocturnal Building and Aviary.

The hatchlings, now just one inch long, will spend at least a year in privacy with the expert animal care team tending to their needs. A relative of the seahorse, the Australian animals will grow about 18 inches long.

"The care team reports that the baby seadragons have a voracious appetite and are eating approximately 9,000 baby mysis shrimp and 18,000 copepods (planktonic crustaceans) per week," the zoo shared. "The care team remains cautiously optimistic that the young seadragons will survive and thrive. While a few have passed away, this is not uncommon. Typically, only five percent of seadragons survive their first year in their native range."

Previous to this hatching, another pair of weedy seadragons attempted to procreate in the zoo's Australia and the Islands region, only to have their egg transfer drop from the father's tail stopping them from maturing.

“There is relatively little known about this secretive species in their native range and across conservation organizations,” said Becky Ellsworth, Curator of the Shores and Aquarium region. “The information we are gathering throughout this rare opportunity will add to the collective body of knowledge and wellbeing of weedies worldwide.”