Rare male Weedy Sea Dragon pregnant

The Georgia Aquarium's attempts to coax rare weedy sea dragons to mate has resulted in success. The pregnant male sea dragon is now only the third of its kind in the United States to successfully become pregnant outside of its natural habitat.

The sea dragon, found in nature only in the waters off southern Australia, became pregnant when a female transferred her eggs onto his tail. Male sea horses, sea dragons and pipe fish all carry the eggs instead of the female.

But so much is unknown about the creatures that a lot about the pregnancy remains a mystery. When the animals finally do mate, the sea dragons arch their tails and swim side by side until they latch onto each other before swimming vertically together during their version of a "date."

Of the 70 small pink eggs wrapped around the male's tail, nobody knows how many are viable and could actually hatch. Scientists are relying on other experiences with breeding, where about 60 percent of the eggs survived, to estimate how things may go. The eggs are expected to hatch in four to six weeks.