''Acentronura breviperula'', also known as the shortpouch pygmy pipehorse, dwarf pipehorse and northern little pipehorse, is a species of pygmy pipehorse, a member of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Syngnathidae, the

seahorse A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meaning "sea monster" or " ...

s and pipefishes. It occurs in the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

region from the eastern

Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea) is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated from ...

, through the

Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago (Indonesian/Malay: , tgl, Kapuluang Malay) is the archipelago between mainland Indochina and Australia. It has also been called the " Malay world," "Nusantara", "East Indies", Indo-Australian Archipelago, Spices Archipe ...

to the Western Pacific as far east as

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

and the northern

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

. It is a small, drab-coloured pipehorse which is very well camouflaged among sandy and silty habitats, although it is usually found on substrates of coral rubble or in areas of sparse algal growth. It has a prehensile tail similar to that of a seahorse but it lacks an angled head and swims with its body held in a horizontal position. It is normally recorded in pairs and they typically use their prehensile tails to grip onto pieces of algae or debris. It is a carnivorous species which feeds on small invertebrates. Like other syngnathids it is

ovoviviparous Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, ovivipary, or aplacental viviparity is a term used as a "bridging" form of reproduction between egg-laying oviparous and live-bearing viviparous reproduction. Ovoviviparous animals possess embryos that develop insi ...

and the males hold the developing eggs in a brood pouch located on the underside of its body. It is found at depths from . They are sexually dimorphic, the females resemble pipefish but the males have large bellies and bear more resemblance to sea horses. They grow to a maximum length of . ''A breviperula'' was previously thought to be a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of ''

Acentronura tentaculata ''Acentronura tentaculata'', the shortpouch pygmy pipehorse , northern little pipehorse, or dwarf pipehorse, is a species of pygmy pipehorse from the family Syngnathidae. The status of this species is debated and '' Acentronura breviperula'' is c ...

'' but is now considered to be a valid species with ''A. tenticulata'' restricted to the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

. In Australia ''A. berviperula'' is a listed Marine Species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q20667672 breviperula Fish of the Indian Ocean Fish of the Pacific Ocean Fish described in 1949 Taxa named by Gilbert Percy Whitley