During pipefish copulation, which signifies the termination of the courtship dance, the female transfers her eggs through a small ovipositor into the male brood pouch or onto the special patch of skin on the male’s ventral body surface. While the eggs are being transferred, the mating pair rises through the water until copulation is complete. At this point, the male assumes an S-shaped posture and fertilizes the eggs, all the while travelling back down the water column.[5] Males possessing brood pouches release their sperm directly into them; the pouches are then vigorously shaken. The ventral seams are not opened until weeks later when the male pipefish give birth.