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NARRATOR:
Sea horses, like these

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at the National Aquarium
in Baltimore's new exhibit,

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never cease to astonish.

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Even stranger than
their bizarre appearance

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is the startling observation
that the smooth-bellied males

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get pregnant and give birth.

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It's just one of the puzzles
presented to scientists

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trying to understand
and save sea horses.

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One species of sea horse is
native to the Chesapeake Bay.

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At the Calvert Marine Museum
in Solomons, Maryland,

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aquarist Carin Stringer
is charting unknown waters

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in her research on this species.

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STRINGER: Hippocampus erectus
is the only species of sea horse

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in the Chesapeake Bay,

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and nobody knows much
about it at all.

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They're hard to raise.

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Nobody has, to this point,
published anything

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about raising the species
or has any good data on it,

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and we'll be the first ones if
we get any good information.

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I think people are fascinated
with sea horses

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because they have a head
that looks like a horse,

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they have a tail that can wrap
around things like a monkey,

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and they have these eyes
that move independently

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like chameleons do.

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And they also share
with chameleons

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the fact that they can change
their color readily.

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Plus, they move so gracefully
through the water.

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"Hippocampus,"
their species name,

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actually means "sea monster."

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NARRATOR: This species
of sea horse is also known

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as the lined or northern
sea horse.

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Its range in North America

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is thought to lie
along the Atlantic

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from Canada to Florida.

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