Love is All Around at SEA LIFE Blackpool

Love is in the air at SEA LIFE Blackpool, with Cupid aiming his bow at the most loveable creatures.

As it is leading up to the most romantic day of the year, the adorable seahorses have been showing signs of amour by pirouetting and ‘flirting’ with each other.

Seahorses of the opposite sex advertise their presence to each other when ready to mate by making a sharp ‘clicking’ sound with their necks.

As seahorses are known to produce several hundreds (or at times, over a thousand babies) in a pregnancy, the SEA LIFE Blackpool team have begun to prepare themselves. After incubating the female’s egg in a special stomach pouch for around 25 days, it’s surprisingly the dads who give birth!

To help this sensitive and endangered sea creature facing extinction, SEA LIFE Blackpool have successfully bred and reared nine different species to date and as such, have become a pioneer in the field of seahorse breeding.

With the help of The Breed, Rescue and Protect programme, it has meant that they do not need to rely on external suppliers to find seahorses for their exhibitions. This also means that none will ever be taken from the wild on behalf of SEA LIFE. It also means that they are able to use their own stock to resupply wild stock if they become extinct in the wild.

SEA LIFE Blackpool is a member of an international Taxon Advisory Group, which overseas important seahorse protection and conservation all over the world.

Love is also running deep in the shark tunnel, with the Nurse and Black Tip Sharks starting to show signs of potential breeding activity, as well as the spider crabs being unable to keep their claws off each other!

Feel the love and visit SEA LIFE Blackpool. With an abundance of love being in the air, Cupid’s arrow might just be pointing at you this Valentine’s Day!