The big-belly seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis) is at the far end of that spectrum, with the most complex type of seahorse pregnancy. To get a better picture of what is going on during this period of seahorse life, Camilla Whittington of the University of Sydney and colleagues analyzed gene expression (the patterns of genes turned on and off) in the big-belly seahorse during conception, egg development and birth. They found several commonalities linking the seahorse, reptiles that give live birth and us. The study appeared September 1 in Molecular Biology and Evolution.