Romance is real in the seahorse world

Every morning, seahorse couples engage in ritualistic dances to greet each other, moving through intricate, rhythmic sequences of twists and twirls for minutes to hours on end. They change color as they move together, sometimes with their tails entwined. That tail is prehensile, anchoring them to things like blades of sea grass compared to a baby grasping an adult’s finger.

Seahorses show that humans are not the only species that "dates," despite the fact that people may organize dates with romantic prospects to assess compatibility and get to know each other better. They dance every day to bolster their romantic relationship and make sure their reproductive cycles are properly synchronized. Couples with the seahorse pattern frequently stay with the same partner for a very long time. The possibility of effective, ongoing reproduction throughout time is increased when seahorses commit to a single spouse and go through numerous reproductive cycles during each mating season.