Brood pouch (Peracarida), in peracarid crustaceans
Brood pouch (Syngnathidae), in syngnathids such as sea horses
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The body is hexagonal in cross section in front of the vent but is four-sided behind the dorsal fin and it is clothed in an armor of bony plates connected in rings, of which there are 18 to 20 in front of the vent and 36 to 42 behind the latter.
This occurs several times in succession, with intervals of rest, until the pouch is filled, the male working the eggs down toward the rear end of his pouch by body contortions.
The eggs become embedded in the lining of the broodpouch, and it has been established for the European pipefish (probably this applies equally to our North American species) that the embryos within the eggs are nourished by the epithelial lining layer of the pouch, so that the latter functions as a placenta.
Maternal and paternal brooding roles are reversed in these groups, with females producing large telolecithal eggs that are fertilized as they are deposited into the male broodpouch (Azzarello 1991).
In both the seahorse and the pipefish, the broodpouch functions to buffer newly deposited eggs by bathing them in a solution that is isosmotic to fish blood.
Azzarello (1991) concluded that the broodpouch is non-essential for nutritional survival, and that it serves and important osmoregulatory function only in embryos smaller than 4 mm., the time period preceding the development of gills, excretory chloride cells and kidneys.
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